


How Deep Is The Ocean

by flowerfan



Category: Glee
Genre: Death of OC, Fluff, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Klaine, M/M, Martha's Vineyard, Vacation, Windsurfing, beach, klainebingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2258304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Blaine's grandmother passes away, Kurt and Blaine have an unexpected opportunity to get away from it all.  Canon compliant; takes place the summer after 5x20.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: death of OC (Blaine's grandmother); grief. No connection with current spoilers.  
> Many thanks to my lovely betas, perry_avenue and Alianne82, without whom this story might never have come together.  
> This story was written for klainebingo.

Blaine leaned back gratefully against Kurt, who shifted them into a more comfortable position on the couch, Blaine resting against Kurt's chest. Kurt's arms came up to circle Blaine, gentle and reassuring. Ever since the phone call a few days ago letting Blaine know that his grandmother had passed away, it seemed that Kurt had been next to him, touching him, a constant, calming presence. Now the funeral was over and they were back at his grandmother's house in Connecticut. Blaine didn't know what was supposed to happen next. The day had been a blur of people talking to him, Kurt always by his side, taking people's hands and accepting their expressions of sympathy, while Blaine stood practically mute, the lump in his throat and the burn in his eyes interfering with his usual good manners. 

Most of the well-wishers had gone home at this point, leaving only a few relatives and a small group of elderly ladies who were apparently his grandmother's friends from a chorus she used to sing in. Blaine had met a few of the women before, at various birthday parties and events, but he just hadn't been able to summon up any words when they each stopped by to talk to him, touching his cheek and his shoulder and cooing over how grown up he'd become. Kurt, however, had no problem engaging them in conversation, and was deemed "sweet as pie" by their ringleader. Blaine smiled to himself, thinking of Kurt's experience starring in Peter Pan with the nursing home residents he had befriended in the city. If Broadway didn't work out for Kurt, maybe he could run a home for aging actors, like the one for retired musicians in _Quartet._

Blaine's mom sat down next to them on the couch, and Blaine could feel Kurt start to push him upright. "No, don't get up," she said, placing a hand on Blaine's knee and giving them both a small smile. "You're fine where you are. I just need to talk to you for a minute."

Blaine relaxed back against Kurt, feeling Kurt's hand resume its soothing motion on his arm, petting softly up and down. His mother was saying something to him about his grandmother, and holding an envelope out towards him. "It's certainly not a fortune, but she wanted you and Cooper to each have something."

"Thank you, Katie," Kurt said, reaching to take the envelope when Blaine didn't respond. 

Blaine blinked up at his mom, trying to focus. "Sorry, mom, I'm..."

"It's okay, sweetie," she said, a look of concern on her face. "I only wish I could do something to make you feel better. I hate it when you're hurting." She took a breath and spoke again, almost to herself. "You and your father are so similar." Blaine saw his mother exchange a look with Kurt and wondered what they were thinking. Blaine's dad had taken the death of his mother hard. Although Nora Anderson still lived in Connecticut, in the house his dad had grown up in, they had remained close after Katie and Bob moved to Ohio, and his grandmother had been a part of almost every major family celebration Blaine could remember. She had seemed so vibrant that Blaine hadn't given a thought to losing her, and he knew it was the same for his father. 

Kurt was saying something to his mom about his dad and Cooper, and Blaine leaned his head back, feeling the vibration in Kurt's chest as he spoke. 

"Blaine?" His mom squeezed his leg a little, trying to get his attention. "There's one more thing."

Blaine nodded and met her eyes, hoping he looked more coherent than he felt. "Yeah, mom?"

"You know grandma's house on Martha’s Vineyard? Your father and I were going to take her out there in a few weeks, she hadn't been for a proper visit in years. We've had some work done on it to fix it up and get it ready, but now your dad isn't going to want to go out there. Plus I don't think either of us can get more time off from work this summer, we'll probably stay here for the next few weeks to try to get things organized, or at least start..." Katie trailed off, rubbing her hand on her dark skirt. 

"That makes sense," Kurt said encouragingly as Katie fell silent. "There can be a lot to do. But you don't need to do it all at once."

"I know, honey, thank you." Katie touched Kurt's hand where it rested on Blaine's arm. "It's really not fair that you have experience with this kind of thing," she said sadly. "But I'm glad you're here to help us through it." _Help me, you mean,_ Blaine thought to himself. He didn't know why he was feeling so adrift, but he couldn't seem to shake it. "Anyway, what I was trying to say was that you guys should go use the house for a while, take a week or two off and enjoy it. Someone needs to go out there and make sure the renovations are complete, and we aren't going to be able to do it, so it would really be a help. Plus it will be all ready for guests, and it's a shame for it to go unused."

Blaine knew from the way his mother was looking at him that she was expecting him to say something, but he wasn't sure what. He turned towards Kurt, who jumped right in, as he had been doing all day. 

"That sounds lovely, Katie. Why don't Blaine and I talk it over and get back to you?"

"No problem. I know you have a lot going on this summer, so I understand if you can't do it, but I hope you can fit it in." She stood up and gave them a quick hug, squeezing them together and dropping a quick kiss to Blaine’s head. When she let go, Blaine closed his eyes and tucked his head into the side of Kurt's neck. "Blaine loved visiting there when he was little," Blaine heard his mom say quietly to Kurt. "I think you'd both really enjoy it."

Blaine hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep until Kurt woke him up some time later, perched on the coffee table in front of him with a glass of water in his hand.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Kurt said softly. "Do you want to stay here again tonight or go home? If we want to go, we should think about catching a train soon."

Blaine sat up and stretched, swallowing painfully.

"Here, take this." Blaine took the glass from Kurt, drinking it down quickly. The cold water soothed his raw throat.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

Kurt nodded. "Okay, so, stay or go?"

Kurt's blue eyes held his, and Blaine could see how tired Kurt was too. Blaine wanted nothing more than for them to curl up together in their bed at the loft, but the thought of even getting up off the couch was daunting. 

Kurt held his hand out to Blaine, who took it and let himself be pulled upright. Kurt wrapped his arms around him and put a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him close. "Do you want me to take you home, sweetheart?" Kurt whispered. 

Blaine nodded. "Yes, please."

A few hours later, after a train ride and a cab ride and a final endless trudge up the stairs, they were home. Blaine had slept for most of the trip, head on Kurt's lap and feet pulled up next to him on the seat. He opted for a shower when they got back to the loft, and stood under the steaming water until his head finally started to clear. Mostly dried off and clad in a tank top and boxers, he wandered out to the kitchen, where Kurt was pouring tea into mugs. A plate of sweets sat next to the tea, arranged precisely in a fan formation, homemade chocolate chip cookies alternating with shortbread from the bakery on the corner, and a chocolate truffle in the middle. Kurt could be as casual as the next guy with comfort food most of the time, digging into a quart of ice cream with nothing but a spoon, but when he got stressed sometimes his OCD tendencies came out. 

Blaine came up behind Kurt and put his arms around his waist, resting his chin on Kurt's shoulder. "This looks delicious."

"I can make you some real food if you want, we've got some of that minestrone soup from last week I can defrost, or we can order something." Kurt's hands stilled on the edge of the countertop.

"No, I'm not really hungry. But this is perfect." Blaine pushed at Kurt's hips until he turned in his arms. Kurt’s eyes were red and puffy, and Blaine's heart throbbed. His grandmother’s death was affecting Kurt, too. It hadn’t been so long since grief had been fresh for Kurt as well.

"How are you feeling?" Kurt asked, pushing a damp curl off Blaine's forehead.

"A lot more human," Blaine replied. 

"I knew a shower would help." Kurt was a firm believer in showers as powerful restoratives, which had created quite a dilemma when there were four or five of them living in the loft.

"No. I mean yes, the shower was good. But it was you, Kurt. You helped."

Kurt frowned and shook his head. "I didn't do anything special."

Blaine tightened his grip around Kurt's waist and pulled him close, raising one hand to cradle his jaw. "Kurt. You did." Blaine tilted his head until he caught Kurt's gaze. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, because it’s no surprise that you can be incredibly kind."

"When I'm not being a bitch," Kurt mumbled, turning his face into Blaine's hand.

Blaine laughed. "You have your Santana-esque moments," he agreed. "But seriously, Kurt, the care you have shown for me over the past few days... it's almost overwhelming. And I know this isn’t easy for you, either."

"You were there for me when Finn died," Kurt said softly. "That first week, when I was home, you were there every minute. And we had barely gotten back together."

"We were engaged," Blaine said. He remembered being so scared back then that Kurt might change his mind, that in his grief over Finn Kurt might pull away from Blaine. But just the opposite had happened. Although Kurt was strong for Carole and Burt when they were all together, as soon as Kurt could retreat to the privacy of his room, he would fall apart. And Kurt had let Blaine in, let him care for him, let him hold him through those first few nights when it seemed all Kurt could do was cry. 

"I know, but we were so new, I hardly expected... Anyway, it's only right that I do the same for you. I mean, that's not why I'm doing it, it’s not some sort of obligation, I just..." Kurt sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm not making sense."

"You are, you are making perfect sense. Kurt," Blaine caught Kurt's eyes again. "I know it's just my grandma, and she lived a long and good life, and I shouldn't have let this throw me so much." Kurt gave a snort of disagreement. "But I felt like I was floating away. You've been my anchor. And it's not the first time. Kurt, you make me feel so safe and loved." 

"That's the thing, though," Kurt said, lacing his arms up over Blaine's shoulders. "That's how I feel with you, too. I even said it to my dad, ages ago."

"Said what to your dad?"

"I told him that you make me feel safe, and connected, and loved. It was when he was driving me to Dalton for our proposal." 

"Is that how you knew?"

"My dad? No, he didn't tell me. Although he did tell me you asked him for his blessing."

Blaine cringed. "Did he tell you what he said?" Blaine had always wondered about that. Burt had dashed his hopes in that conversation on the stage at McKinley, when Burt said he thought it was too soon for Blaine to ask Kurt to marry him. But Blaine had gone forward anyway – he had been so sure it was the right thing to do. Luckily Burt had been willing to help out with the surprise proposal, and had seemed so happy for them afterwards. Blaine wished he knew if something had changed Burt’s mind, or if he was just going with the flow. 

"Nope, he said his opinion didn't matter, it was up to me." Kurt grinned at Blaine. "He tried to get you to wait, didn't he?"

"He did. And I didn't take it very well."

"Really? How surprising." Kurt said dryly.

"Hey, that's not nice," Blaine said, poking Kurt in the side. "I was in love. Still am, as a matter of fact." He turned his head and pressed a kiss to Kurt's neck, in that spot that never failed to make him squirm. 

"Mmm, me too." Kurt slid a hand down Blaine's back, and then up under his shirt. "How about we just agree that I'll take care of you, and you'll take care of me?" Kurt said, his voice dropping lower as he rocked his hips against Blaine.

"Ten points for the witty double entendre," Blaine said approvingly, giving Kurt's earlobe a little nibble. "Bed?"

"Bed."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Blaine's grandmother passes away, Kurt and Blaine have an unexpected opportunity to get away from it all. Canon compliant; takes place the summer after 5x20.
> 
> Chapter prompt: vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: death of OC (Blaine's grandmother); grief. No connection with current spoilers.  
> Many thanks to my lovely betas, perry_avenue and Alianne82, without whom this story might never have come together.  
> 

A few days later Kurt was gathering up the suits he and Blaine had worn to Blaine's grandmother's funeral. They needed to be dry cleaned, and if he waited much longer, inevitably one of them would hang the clothes back up in the “clean” section of the closet and wear them again, only to be caught by surprise by a spot in a visible place (not that this had happened to Kurt before, of course). 

As Kurt was folding up his suit jacket, the envelope Blaine’s mom had given him fluttered out and on to the floor. Kurt picked it up and brought it in to Blaine, who was at the kitchen table, giggling at his laptop.

"Not porn, I hope?" Kurt asked, smirking.

Blaine looked up and turned the computer towards Kurt. "Not unless this counts." It was a picture of a shirtless Sam, hair dripping wet, red swim shorts soaked and clinging to his legs. The caption read "Stevie and Stacie upped their game - Evans Epic Water Balloon Battle, Summer 2014."

Kurt smiled. "As long as you don't bookmark it for later viewing, I guess I'll excuse it." 

Blaine blushed. "Kurt, you know I don't-"

Kurt leaned down and stopped Blaine’s protest with a kiss. "I know. It's just so easy to tease you." Most of the time Kurt didn’t concern himself with Blaine’s once upon a time crush on Sam. Occasionally, however, during some of the Blam movie marathons last winter when he found them rather close together on the couch or sprawled out on the floor side by side he couldn’t help but wonder about Sam’s willingness to practically cuddle with his fiancé. It was less physical than he and Rachel were on a regular basis – Sam never did Blaine’s hair, or gave him a foot massage, or curled up on Blaine’s shoulder, as far as Kurt knew – but it was still a little unusual. 

Blaine huffed. "Fine. I do miss him, though. Rachel, too."

"Yeah, me too." Kurt still wasn’t used to how quiet the loft was without Rachel, and Monday night dinners just weren’t the same with only Artie joining them. Even Elliott was away for the summer, teaching music at some swanky arts camp in upstate New York. It had been pretty great for a while, with all his McKinley friends in the city with him – although sort of unreal at the same time. If someone had told him a few years ago that he’d be missing the New Directions this much, he never would have believed them.

Kurt sat down in the chair next to Blaine and put the envelope Blaine’s mother had given them down on the table. "Not to change the subject or anything, but I forgot your mom gave you this at the funeral."

Blaine just stared at it, his face blank.

"You remember, right?" Kurt said softly. "It's from your grandma."

"I remember. I just keep forgetting that she died, for a minute or two, and then it comes back."

"I'm sorry, honey." Kurt took Blaine's hand, and scooted closer. "I know how that feels."

Blaine nodded. "I know." 

"You don't have to open it now."

"I might as well. It's not like it's going to change anything."

 _She couldn't get more dead,_ a voice in Kurt's mind contributed. He kept it to himself; although he had become adept at death-related humor over the years, it was probably too soon for Blaine to appreciate it.

Kurt focused back on Blaine. Blaine took a deep breath, picked up the envelope, and carefully slid a finger under the flap. "I'm surprised I haven’t opened it yet, Cooper was just talking to me about this. He said not to be too excited, that grandma didn't have a lot of assets other than the two houses, and she left most of her stuff to my dad. I guess that means me and Coop will inherit eventually, unless..."

Blaine stopped speaking, his eyes wide as he stared at the check in his hands. 

"Blaine?" 

Blaine didn't say anything, he just handed the check to Kurt. It was for one hundred _thousand_ dollars.

Kurt could literally feel his jaw drop. "Oh my god, Blaine."

Blaine was shaking his head back and forth. "I'm going to kill Cooper." He looked at Kurt. "Didn't my mom say it wasn't much?"

"I believe her exact words were 'it certainly isn't a fortune.'"

"Well, I guess that's true, we can't retire on it or anything, but, wow."

"Wow is right,” Kurt said, stunned. “Well, it sure will buy a lot of bow ties.” 

"Kurt – now you can get those black boots with the buckles you've been eyeing, and that Mark Jacobs jacket you wanted for fall."

Kurt's eyes lit up, and then he shook his head. "No way, this is your money."

"We’re getting married, remember? My money is your money. I think a shopping spree is definitely in order. My grandma always admired your fashion sense, she'd want us to use her money on couture." They both laughed, Kurt thinking of Nora's highly amused reaction to the purple dinner jacket and coordinating striped pants he wore to the Andersons’ holiday party last year. 

Blaine took the check back from Kurt and set it down on the table, smoothing it out with his fingers. "Seriously, this is awesome for us. We obviously shouldn’t spend it on random stuff, at least, not too much of it. But now we know we have money to use someday for a down payment on a condo, or to pay rent for a few months if we're not getting parts. Or to add a little to our wedding budget, and take a honeymoon somewhere really fabulous." Blaine smiled at Kurt. "I know you really want to go to Paris, you just won't put it on the list because it's so expensive."

"Well, I know you really want to go to England, and you won't put that on the list either." Kurt tried to rein in his excitement. It really wasn't _that_ much money, all things considered. Taxes would have to come out of it, first of all. And they shouldn't use it up on their wedding, they were doing fine saving for it by putting away some of their earnings from the diner and Blaine's piano students every month.

Blaine swiveled the laptop back where he could reach it and typed busily for a few minutes, during which time Kurt amused himself by admiring the way Blaine's forehead crinkled when he was concentrating. "I have updated our list," Blaine announced, showing Kurt the document.

At the top of their "possible honeymoon destinations" list which already included "borrow Cooper's apartment in L.A." and "road trip to New Orleans" was now "two weeks in Paris and London (with shows, Harry Potter tour of Oxford, side trip to Mont Saint-Michel, and dinner at Le Grand Véfour)."

Kurt grinned at Blaine. "I guess you haven't put any thought into this, then." He bounced a little in his seat, enjoying the game. "I've always wanted to see Mont Saint-Michel. But what's Le Grand Véfour?"

"It's a gourmet restaurant in Paris, one of the very oldest. Colette ate there, and Victor Hugo. You can arrange to eat in their private room upstairs, and have a special ten course meal selected by the chef. I've always wanted to take you there, but I thought it would have to wait until our ten year wedding anniversary or something, but by then we'd have kids and probably wouldn't want to leave them for that long, but they wouldn't be old enough to come with us, I mean our kids will obviously be well behaved but they'd be too young to appreciate it, so maybe for our twenty year anniversary..."

For the second time that afternoon, Kurt cut Blaine's ramble off with a kiss, although this one was decidedly more intense than before. When he pulled back, they were both breathless. "You, Blaine Anderson, are entirely too adorable for words."

Blaine beamed. "But you love me."

"That I do."

Much later that night, after indulging in continued ideas for extravagant ways to spend Blaine's inheritance, followed by a round of "we don't have to worry about money" sex (which Blaine insisted would be even better in the future, because now they could get the more expensive lube), Kurt remembered the other thing Blaine's mom had talked to them about after the funeral.

"Blaine?"

"No, I don't want to get up. Too comfy."

Kurt chuckled, causing Blaine to snuggle closer, his head a warm weight on Kurt's chest. Kurt slid his fingers into Blaine's curls and rubbed his scalp. "We don't have to get up. But have you given any thought to going to your grandma's vacation house?"

Despite Katie Anderson's urging, and Kurt's desperate need for a vacation somewhere besides Lima, Kurt thought that a trip to the site of so many memories of his grandmother might not be how Blaine wanted to spend his time off. 

Blaine leaned up on his elbow, looking at Kurt. "I’ve thought about it a little. Do you want to go?"

"I asked you first."

"And I answered your question," Blaine said primly. He ran his hand down Kurt’s arm, finding his hand and twining their fingers together. "Do you think my mom meant it when she said she needed someone to go check on the renovations, or was she just trying to get us to go?"

Kurt had wondered the same thing. "I'm guessing she'd rather us go than rely on someone else to report back to her, but that it isn't truly necessary." Kurt shifted so that he could look at Blaine more easily. "I've never been to Martha's Vineyard. It would be nice to get out of the city for a little while. But I don't want to go unless you want to."

Blaine bit his lip and pulled Kurt’s hand up to his chest. "It's really beautiful there, and I haven't been since before Dalton." Kurt could see that Blaine was tearing up, and he held him a little closer. "I actually really want to go, but I'm a little worried that being there will make me miss her more," Blaine said hesitantly.

"Well, that's okay, right? You can be a little sad sometimes."

"On our vacation?" 

"Anytime, baby," Kurt said softly. "I don't mind if you're sad, or if you cry," he said, wiping a tear off Blaine's cheek. "You're grieving. It’s okay to be sad.” Kurt rubbed his nose against Blaine’s. “I love you, always, happy or sad."

Blaine shook his head a little, and pressed his face against Kurt's chest. He felt things so deeply, Kurt thought, and was so afraid for anyone to know.

"It's like that song from 'Free To Be You and Me,'" Kurt said, starting to hum. "'It's all right to cry, crying takes the hurt out of you.' My mom used to sing that to me." Blaine didn't respond. "Don't tell me you don't know 'Free To Be, You and Me'? It's a classic! It had a bunch of celebrities on it. Rosey Greer, the football player, sang this song about crying to a little boy. It was a big deal.”

Blaine lifted his head, an eyebrow raised. "I don't know it."

"Want me to sing it to you?"

Blaine nodded, smiling.

"Okay. We'll have to find the rest of it online, there's a book with illustrations, and short stories, and music. It's wonderful. I don't know how you survived being a gay little boy in Ohio without it."

"It's about being gay?"

"Not exactly, but it's got a lot of good stuff about gender roles, boys being allowed to play with dolls, and have feelings, and cry, girls being able to do anything with their lives, not having to marry princes, that kind of stuff." Kurt shuffled Blaine back down on his chest and slid his hand into his hair again. "I might not remember all the words to this one, it's been a while."

_It's all right to cry_  
 _Crying takes the hurt out of you._  
 _It's all right to cry_  
 _It might make you feel better._

By the time Kurt had finished the song, Blaine had fallen asleep. Kurt was wide awake, though, and all the lights in the apartment were still on, and he was pretty sure neither of them had checked to make sure the door and windows were locked. And he certainly hadn’t done his moisturizing routine, or even brushed his teeth. Kurt was well on his way to rationalizing ignoring all of these things in favor of just letting Blaine continue to snooze away on his chest, when he realized he also really, really needed to use the bathroom. He started to slide out from under Blaine, who immediately opened his eyes, apparently not actually asleep.

“Kurt?”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m just going to turn everything off and get ready for bed.”

Blaine nodded and curled back up around a pillow. “Okay.”

Kurt blew Blaine a little kiss and climbed out of bed, retrieved his boxer shorts from the floor, and headed off to complete his evening routine. Still not tired, he brought his laptop back to bed, sliding under the covers and propping himself up against the headboard. To his surprise, after a few minutes Blaine blinked his eyes open and sat up next to him, resting his head on his shoulder.

“You can sleep, honey. You don’t have to stay up with me.” Kurt knew using the laptop in bed didn’t bother Blaine – generally he could sleep through just about anything, and more often than not one of them was still doing homework when the other one conked out. Back when there were more people in the loft they had figured out that doing homework in Kurt’s room while the other was asleep was much more productive than trying to get anything done out in the kitchen, where Rachel, Sam, and sometimes Santana were constantly trying to engage them in conversation, or lure them into watching trashy television. Even when everyone else moved out, it was clear to them both that they would rather be together at night, no matter what they were doing.

“I wasn’t really sleeping. I’m sort of tired, but I just can’t fall asleep.” Blaine said, settling the blanket more comfortably around them both. “What were you looking at?”

Kurt showed him the screen. He had several tabs open, including a New York Times article on what to do on Martha’s Vineyard, a Frommers.com page describing the beaches, and an article entitled “Foodie Paradise – What To Eat on Martha’s Vineyard.”

Blaine smiled broadly, his eyes lighting up. “So we’re going?”

“We’re going.”

Blaine squealed and pulled Kurt into a tight hug. “You’re going to love it. Let’s go shopping tomorrow and get supplies. We’ll need some beach stuff, sunscreen and that kind of thing, and maybe some new bathing suits.”

“Are you sure?”

Blaine looked at Kurt quizzically. “About new bathing suits? I don’t know, mine is kind of old, and it’s a good idea to have more than one, so they can really dry out every day. But you don’t need a new one if you don’t want to get one. Do you even have one here?”

“I have one, but that’s not what I meant,” Kurt said, pointing at the page he had opened on the computer, which described Moshup’s Beach in Aquinnah.

“Kurt!” Blaine exclaimed, laughing. “Do you really want to go to a nude beach?”

“I believe it’s ‘clothing optional.’ And it’s one of the few left in the United States. I think we owe it to ourselves to check it out.” Kurt slid his hand under the blanket and down Blaine’s still naked self, giving his hip a pinch. 

“Check it out?” Blaine said, still laughing. “You’ve got a deal. As long as you come home with me, you can check out whoever you want.”

“That is not what I meant,” Kurt protested. “Although I guess it would be hard to avoid.”

“ _Hard_ to avoid?” Blaine just laughed harder, gripping his stomach and curling up on himself.

Kurt banged his head back against the headboard, then gave up and set the laptop down on the floor. “Okay, that’s enough, you crazy person,” he said, whipping the blanket off Blaine and pushing him down on to his back. “Stop laughing at me, it’s not nice. And you’ll make yourself sick.” Kurt straddled Blaine, pushing his arms up over his head.

Blaine blinked up at him, his eyes wide, and took a deep breath, but giggled more as he let it out. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to stop!” 

“You’re unbelievable,” Kurt said, lowering himself onto Blaine and pressing him in to the mattress as he began kissing him, deep and slow, keeping his hands tight around Blaine’s wrists. After a few minutes he pulled back and waited for Blaine to look at him. “Done laughing now?”

“All done laughing,” Blaine agreed, breathless. “No more laughing, not ever.”

“I think that’s a little harsh,” Kurt said, gasping a little as Blaine started planting kisses along his neck. He let go of Blaine’s arms, and Blaine soon had one hand cradling Kurt’s face, supporting him as he continued to nibble and suck on the skin just under his ear.

“I love that you can make me laugh,” Blaine said, whispering to Kurt in between kisses. “You make me laugh, and you let me cry, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Let’s never find out, okay?” Kurt felt warm all over, and it wasn’t just from the heat of his sexy fiancé writhing underneath him. The past few days had been difficult, and he hadn’t been sure how to help Blaine through it. But it seemed like he was doing something right, and for that, he was grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Free To Be You And Me_ is lovely, and guaranteed to make you laugh and cry (it's alright to cry, though, so you're okay).


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Blaine arrive on Martha's Vineyard. Prompt: PDA.

Martha’s Vineyard was nothing like Kurt had imagined. For one, it was a lot bigger – there were five or six different towns, each with their own personality, and the whole interior of the island looked almost like any other rural area, with grassy fields and wildflowers lining the roads. It also took forever to get there, although the trip had been its own kind of adventure as they drove up I-95 through Connecticut and Rhode Island into Massachusetts, across a long bridge onto Cape Cod, and finally down to Woods Hole to board the ferry. Kurt had shuddered as Blaine drove his parents’ car on to the boat, but Blaine didn’t flinch, apparently not concerned with what might happen if he accidentally drove it over the side. 

What had started off as a humid, sweltering August morning in New York City was transformed into the best kind of summer day when they climbed up to the top deck of the ferry boat and found a spot to sit and watch the water go by. They spent about half an hour in the sun, then found a bench in the shade for the rest of the trip. Kurt pulled out a magazine and Blaine just dozed, looking more relaxed than he had in weeks. Kurt hoped that the trip would give Blaine a chance to just be, maybe do something about the bags under his eyes that had cropped up recently. They both put a lot of pressure on themselves, and generally Kurt thought they handled it pretty well. After his grandmother’s death, however, Blaine seemed to be having a little more trouble than usual bouncing back from life’s everyday challenges. Just a few nights ago Kurt had caught Blaine tearing up when he asked Blaine to grab them some strawberry ice cream for dessert but all they had left in the freezer was cookie dough, Blaine apologizing profusely to Kurt as if without strawberry ice cream Kurt would wither away and die. But now their summer classes were over, they had cleared their schedules, and two glorious weeks with no commitments stretched out in front of them. 

The ferry deposited them in Vineyard Haven, a town which Blaine claimed was the site of the best place to have breakfast in the entire world, and which they would certainly explore later. After about a twenty minute drive along the coast of the island, beautiful beaches and sun-happy tourists visible all along the way, they slowed as they entered Edgartown. August was apparently the busiest time of year to visit the island, and Edgartown was its most famous area, the home of the rich and preppy and vacationers who didn’t mind that kind of thing. By this time Blaine was pretty much grinning non-stop as he drove them carefully down the well-manicured streets, past the little gray houses adorned with rose covered trellises. They had rolled the car windows down, and everything smelled like sea air and flowers.

Blaine’s grandmother’s house was at the end of a narrow street, a cute two-story bungalow surrounded by larger homes that had apparently grown in size since Blaine had last visited. Real estate in Edgartown was in demand, and the more bedrooms in your home, the higher the rental price, Blaine explained. With a bounce in his step, Blaine led Kurt into the house. Through a narrow kitchen it opened up into an open living room with a dining table at one side, and a screened in porch with a view of the tiny garden in the back. There was one bedroom downstairs, and two more upstairs, one of which was barely big enough to hold the bunk bed that nestled inside it. Blaine confirmed that this had been his and Cooper’s room when they visited, showing off the games in the miniscule closet, and the photos of a lanky Cooper and his curly headed side kick which decorated a tiny dresser. Blaine and Kurt would be sleeping in the larger bedroom on the second floor, which held a queen sized four poster bed, draped with a beautiful blue and white quilt that Kurt felt sure was handmade and quite a bit older than he was.

Blaine had given him a heads up about the house, and Kurt had known that it wasn’t going to be on the water, or the size of a Kennedy mansion. But he hadn’t been prepared for how entirely adorable it would be, and how very peaceful. As they walked through each room and opened up all the windows, letting in the afternoon ocean breeze, the only sounds were the rustling of the curtains and their soft footsteps. 

They brought in their bags, and Kurt spent a few minutes putting their groceries away. The kitchen was one of the areas which had been recently renovated, and Kurt admired how the modern appliances and off-white granite countertop had been installed without changing the relaxed feel of the small kitchen. He knew at some point he and Blaine would take a more careful look at the changes – Blaine’s mom had sent them a list of things to review – but that could wait.

Kurt found Blaine standing in the downstairs bedroom, his arms crossed over his body, his white polo pulled tight around his shoulders. The room was small but had an airy feel, with a pink flowered quilt decorating the bed and a soft-looking afghan draped over a rocking chair in the corner. There was a little bookshelf crammed with paperbacks, and crocheted doilies on the surface of a vanity that, like most other surfaces in the house, was adorned with framed photos of Blaine and his extended family.

Kurt came up next to Blaine and teased one arm away from his body, finding his hand and twining their fingers together.

“My grandmother’s room,” Blaine explained. “Although she hasn’t been here in a few years, my mom said.”

Kurt nodded. “It’s pretty.”

“She made the quilt, and the ones upstairs, too.” Blaine sat down on the bed, and Kurt followed, keeping Blaine’s hand in his. “I used to love hanging out in here with her when I was little. Cooper always wanted to go do something – seems like he was always a teenager when we were here – so my parents would take him out bike riding, and I’d stay here with my grandma. We’d sit in that chair and she’d read to me, and then we’d go out for ice cream.”

“Sounds nice.”

Blaine got up and went over to the bookcase, running a finger along the spines of the books. “She read me the first Harry Potter one summer. Got me hooked.” Blaine pulled out a worn copy of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ and studied the pages as if he was hoping to hear his grandmother’s voice.

Kurt rose and joined him, a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you could bring that home with us.”

Blaine’s eyes met Kurt’s, then looked back at the book he was clutching in his hands. “You think that’d be okay?” 

Okay with who? Kurt wondered. “Yes.”

Blaine took a deep breath and smiled at Kurt. “Speaking of ice cream…”

\-----

“So what is it about vacation towns that make people want to eat ice cream all the time?” Kurt asked as they walked down Main Street, dodging families with kids in strollers and window shoppers.

“Ultimate sign of summer indulgence?” Blaine suggested. “And an abundance of delicious ice cream shops?”

They ducked into the first ice cream shop they came to, Blaine explaining that while it wasn’t his favorite on the island, it was still pretty good. Kurt got a black raspberry cone and Blaine a lemon slush, Kurt immediately accusing him of choosing the flavor in order to avoid staining his polo when he inevitably dripped.

“You’re one to talk,” Blaine laughed. “You practically gave up coffee the month you wore that white suede jacket all the time. “Water is healthier, Blaine,” he said, pitching his voice higher than normal. 

Kurt huffed. “You’d think at least hanging around Sam as much as you do your imitations would have improved by now.”

Blaine shrugged, smiling. “I love you,” he said calmly, catching Kurt’s eye as they paused at a street corner.

“I know. But don’t think you’re getting any of my ice cream.”

Blaine led them all the way down the street to the water. The harbor was busy, filled with sailboats of every size, most of them much larger than anything Kurt had ever seen on a lake in Ohio. Smaller powerboats buzzed around, taking boaters from their moorings to shore and back again. The concentration of beautiful people unironically wearing boat shoes and expensive polos casually tucked into their khaki shorts was remarkable. Kurt spotted a young man with dark curly hair, a white polo shirt, and a belt with little whales on it. “Separated at birth?” he asked, pointing him out to Blaine.

Blaine laughed. “While that pattern is a classic, I prefer mine.” Kurt ran his finger over the little lobsters embroidered on Blaine’s navy belt. “Just wait until I pull out the Nantucket reds.”

“Hm?”

“Super-preppy light red pants, or shorts. They sell them on Nantucket, and other places too. You’ll see a lot of them, if you’re looking.” Blaine indicated a man driving a dinghy up to the dock, clad in a light blue button up and what looked like red pants that had faded from too many washings. “You can even double up on the preppy and get them with little whales on them, or whatever.”

“I’m guessing you’ve got a pair of those?”

“Well, I just brought a pair of the traditional shorts. But I used to have some with little anchors… I’m sure they sell them around here somewhere.” Blaine paused, giving Kurt a look. “What?” 

“You’re adorable.”

Kurt and Blaine sat down on the edge of the dock, licking their sticky fingers as they finished their treats, and gazing out over the water, now growing choppy with the increasing breeze. Kurt played with an escaping curl on Blaine’s forehead. “You should ease up on the gel tomorrow,” he said softly, leaning in to whisper in Blaine’s ear. “Let your curls fly free in the wind.”

Blaine didn’t answer, just lay his head on Kurt’s shoulder, nuzzling into his neck. 

“We okay here?” Kurt asked. He knew Blaine would know what he was asking. Kurt had seen a few gay couples among the vacationing throngs, but hadn’t been able to get a feel for how welcome PDA would be.

Blaine stilled, then took Kurt’s hand, ignoring the faint stickiness left from the ice cream. “I think so? I haven’t been here since I was twelve or thirteen.”

“How come?”

“We used to come almost every year, for a few weeks. But the summer after Sadie Hawkins my ribs were still hurting, and my parents didn’t want to travel. Then I went to Dalton, and other things just came up. I started performing at King’s Island in the summer, and Wes invited me to come with him to his family’s summer house in Michigan for a while. There was always some Warbler-related stuff going on, too.” Blaine paused, caught in the memories, Kurt supposed. He had mixed feelings about Blaine’s old Warbler friends – the rock salt slushie was hard to forget. But some of them had kept in touch with Blaine over the years, and they did help out with the proposal. Even Sebastian. Despite himself, Kurt realized that he actually liked Sebastian a little bit now, although he imagined he would probably never feel truly comfortable with him.

But Blaine hadn’t stayed at Dalton, and he wasn’t distracted with Warbler vacation homes after coming to McKinley, so why hadn’t he been to the Vineyard the past few years? Oh, Kurt realized. 

“Then there was us,” Kurt said softly, thinking back to their first summer as boyfriends, when they had spent every minute together, at least when Blaine wasn’t performing and he wasn’t working at his dad’s shop. It had been a perfect summer, filled with pool parties where he got to ogle his boyfriend’s glorious sun-kissed skin, and late nights making out in the tent Blaine put up in his backyard. While he had no memory of any discussions about Blaine going away on vacation, he guessed that Blaine would have been pretty darn disinterested in spending time out of Ohio that year. There was nothing like new love and freedom for a healthy teenage boy… Unfortunately the next summer wasn’t as carefree. Kurt had just graduated from McKinley, and spent most of the next few months moping around, trying to make himself believe that not getting into NYADA wasn’t the end of the world. They had tried to just relax and have fun, but Blaine’s relief at having Kurt home had slowly morphed into worry, and too many nights were spent trying to convince each other that everything was okay, when neither of them thought it was.

“Then there was us,” Blaine agreed. Kurt could feel Blaine smiling against his neck. “It’s our fourth summer together,” Blaine said wonderingly. “I’m so glad.”

“Me too.” They had always been together in the summers, Kurt thought, memories of the break-up and all of its agonies confined to the colder months of the year. There was something so sexy about being with Blaine during the summer, Blaine’s warm, sweaty skin pressed into his… Kurt struggled to remember that they were outside, surrounded by people. Now was not the time for this, despite what his body was telling him.

Blaine seemed to be having trouble with this concept too. His nuzzling had turned into kisses right on the most sensitive parts of Kurt’s neck, Blaine’s hands coming up to cup Kurt’s face. No matter how tolerant the atmosphere, there was no way Kurt was letting Blaine continue this in public, despite the fact that no one around them seemed to care. It just felt too good.

“Blaine?”

“Hmm?”

Kurt forced himself to pull back, dropping a quick kiss to Blaine’s lips as Blaine looked up at him, long eyelashes fluttering. “How about we go back to the house?”

Blaine blinked and grinned. “Sorry. Got carried away.” He got up and offered a hand to Kurt, and tugged him close when he stood.

“No need to apologize,” Kurt said, smiling back. “Just take me home.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Blaine go exploring, and then Blaine has a surprise for Kurt.  
> Prompt: phobias.
> 
> Thanks as always to my lovely betas, perry_avenue and Alianne82.

The next day was a little cloudy, so they decided to spend it touring around Edgartown and leave the beach for another day. Kurt could tell how excited Blaine was to take him to all of his favorite places. It was good to see Blaine so happy and relaxed – Kurt really didn’t care where they went, as long as Blaine kept smiling.

They started off at the Old Whaling Church on Main Street, just a few blocks away from Blaine’s grandmother’s house. Kurt had to admire the stately building with its tall Greek revival columns, which he learned was built by whaling captains in the mid 1800’s. In fact, he realized quickly, most of the history of the island was going to revolve around the fact that it used to be a thriving whaling port. Even the grand houses along the harbor in Edgartown still reflected this, with their circular balconies where wives and families watched for the return of their loved ones from long sea journeys. 

They wandered through the nearby museum complex, Blaine particularly fascinated by the whaleboat – “can you imagine, Kurt? Holding on for dear life while a whale you stabbed with a spear dragged you through the ocean?” Kurt preferred not to imagine it, frankly, as it sounded at least as dangerous as it actually was. He did spend some time looking over the Fresnel Lens exhibit, which explained how the glass used in lighthouses captured the light and allowed it to be visible over great distances. He made Blaine promise to take him to see a lighthouse while they were visiting the island, which caused Blaine to practically jump up and down in anticipation – apparently there were more than a few to choose from.

In addition to whaling and preppies, apparently Edgartown’s other major claim to fame was the Kennedy family. Kurt and Blaine had lunch at a charming restaurant at the Edgartown Inn, where JFK apparently stayed when he was a state senator. Kurt got the feeling that more than one Edgartown establishment had a “some Kennedy stayed here” claim to fame. He decided that he would take some pictures of Chappaquiddick for Carole at some point – she was a huge Kennedy fan, and he thought she might appreciate a closer look at the site of the 1969 Teddy Kennedy scandal.

After lunch they walked down Water Street, admiring the fine homes and the glimpses of the water, until they got to the end of the street and Kurt spotted Edgartown Light at the harbor’s entrance. They followed the path through the wildflowers (and sand, which Kurt accepted as inevitable, given that they were on an island, after all) down to the water, Blaine pointing out that during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the entire grassy plain they were crossing was flooded, and the lighthouse was surrounded by water. Kind of like Venice, Kurt thought, but less smelly. They stood in line for a minute or two, waiting their turn to climb the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse, finally emerging onto the balcony. Grinning at another couple that was trying to take a picture in the breeze, the woman’s hair blowing over her face every time she tried to take a shot, they exchanged phones and posed for each other. The sun had come out, and the sight from the top of the lighthouse couldn’t have been more perfectly New England – sailboats coming in and out of the harbor, windsurfers darting here and there, people waving from the beaches as they splashed and enjoyed the sun, and the afternoon wind challenging each hat wearing soul. 

Kurt caught Blaine gazing at him fondly, and he tucked his chin over Blaine’s shoulder and wound his arms around his waist as they looked out over the harbor. “I think this one might be too small to live in. We’ll have to keep looking.”

Kurt could feel Blaine’s laugh as much as hear it as the wind whipped around them. “I thought you wanted to retire in Provincetown?”

“Any seaside location will do,” Kurt replied, grinning against Blaine’s cheek. “As long as there is plenty of salt air for my hair.”

“And sun for your complexion,” Blaine said.

“Exactly.”

As they walked back into town, Kurt gave Blaine an appraising look. While the plan had been to visit some of the art galleries and shops in town before finding somewhere to eat dinner, Blaine looked beat. He knew Blaine was having a good time, but Kurt figured he was also clearly feeling the loss of his grandmother as they wandered around all these places they had been together. Kurt took Blaine’s hand and pulled him close, unable to read his eyes through his sunglasses. “Any chance you’d be up for an afternoon nap?”

Blaine smiled softly, and Kurt could see his posture relax. “I’d love that. We can go shopping tomorrow, we’re not going to be at the beach all day, right?”

Kurt laughed. “Not if I’m the one you’re going to the beach with.”

A half hour later, as they approached the house, Kurt was debating whether he had the energy to take a shower before getting into bed. Without explanation, Blaine took Kurt around the side of the house, through a gate and onto the small back porch. “There’s an outdoor shower,” Blaine pointed out, bouncing a little on his toes. “So you don’t have to bring all that sand into the house.” Kurt’s disinterest must have shown on his face. “It’s awesome, Kurt, really! You can feel the breeze, and the sun – no one can see you, look, it’s all closed in.” Kurt peeked into the wooden enclosure, and while he didn’t immediately see any spiders or other scary creatures, he felt sure that as soon as he closed his eyes to wash his hair, they would all come visiting.

Luckily, there was also an absence of bath products, and towels, which Kurt did not hesitate to point out. “Maybe we can use it next time, after we stock it up?”

Blaine huffed. “Fine.” He grabbed Kurt around the waist and leaned his cheek against Kurt’s, their sunglasses clicking together. “But tomorrow we’re definitely showering out here. I’ll keep you safe from the spiders.”

“I’m not afraid of spiders,” Kurt mumbled, rubbing his nose against Blaine’s, both of them a little sweaty and smelling of sunscreen.

“Of course you’re not, honey,” Blaine agreed, his expression remarkably smirk-free. “Or vampires, or zombies. Or the carton of milk Sam always drank from and then hid in the back of the fridge.”

They brushed off their feet halfheartedly and let themselves into the house, setting their shoes down in the screen porch so as to minimize the amount of sand they would need to sweep up later. Somewhere in the debate over the outdoor shower they had come to the conclusion that nap sooner was better than nap cleaner, and within minutes they were stripped down to their boxer briefs and climbing into bed. Like many old houses, this one didn’t have air conditioning, but even in the middle of August the ocean breeze came in through the windows and peacefully cooled every room. Blaine snuggled up to Kurt, tucking his head down on his chest and pulling the sheet up over their bodies. Kurt ran his hand through Blaine’s tangled curls, soft and twisted from the breeze. “My hair’s a mess,” Blaine muttered into Kurt’s skin.

“I like it,” Kurt replied, pressing a soft kiss into Blaine’s hair. He took a deep breath, already falling in love with the scent of salt air and roses that seemed to permeate the house. “Sleep now, okay?”

“Mmm, okay.”

\-----

Kurt thought they might have slept straight through dinner and into the night if Blaine hadn’t remembered to set an alarm on his phone before they both drifted off. They had plans, and even though Blaine was keeping the details a surprise, Kurt knew it must be something good for Blaine to cut short such a spectacular nap.

After a light dinner of leftovers from lunch (they might have a little extra money to spend, but they weren’t going to eat out for every meal, Kurt insisted) and quick showers for each of them, they were dressed and ready to go. Blaine looked every bit the sailor in his boat shoes, white button down, navy and white bow tie, and what Kurt correctly concluded were his “Nantucket red” tailored shorts. He had on a plain leather belt today, though, free of any tiny patterns – his explanation of “no need to overdo it, Kurt” nearly sent Kurt into hysterics, given the high level of preppiness Blaine exhibited on an everyday basis. Kurt wasn’t quite ready to give in to the preppy vibe, electing to stick with skin tight skinny jeans and a shortsleeve teal button up, a few buttons undone to show off his blue and gold neckerchief. 

Shortly before eight o’clock they headed out, walking once again towards Main Street. Kurt was coming to understand how convenient it was that Blaine’s grandmother’s house was right in Edgartown proper, as it meant they could walk anywhere in town they wanted to go, without having to worry about parking – which from the frustrated looks on the drivers as they idled in traffic, gazing jealously at the pedestrians, was far from easy to come by.

Crossing over Main Street and winding down yet another narrow road dotted with charming weathered houses and white fences covered in roses, Blaine stopped them as they came to a church and he quickly typed out something on his phone. Before Kurt could get close enough to read the sandwich board in the courtyard advertising the night’s activities he was met with a squeal. “Blaine! Kurt!” It was Trent, and Kurt was quickly enveloped in an enthusiastic hug, just after Trent did the same to Blaine. “I’m so glad you guys made it!” he gushed, ushering them inside. “I can’t talk now, we’re starting soon. But come to the party after, okay? I can’t wait to catch up.” Trent pushed them into front row seats – front pew seats, really – and then disappeared.

Trent’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Blaine was beaming from ear to ear, but Kurt was still in the dark. “So, great keeper of secrets, care to enlighten me yet?”

“It’s an a cappella concert,” Blaine began. “The group is called the Vineyard Sound. It’s made up of students from a bunch of different colleges who come to the Vineyard for the summer to sing. There’s a group on Cape Cod, too. There are a few kids from Connecticut College, where Trent goes, and he was dying to get into it. He just told me about it a few weeks ago – nice timing, right?” 

“Absolutely.” Kurt gave Blaine a quick peck on the lips, and took his hand in both of his. “It’s a perfect surprise.”

Soon the members of The Vineyard Sound came out and assembled at the front of the church, arranging themselves as best they could given the space. They were a good looking bunch, dressed in coordinating pastel button-ups, khaki pants, and solid color ties. Kurt wondered if they had belts with little music notes on them, or if that would be straying too far afield from the required island dress. He thought that Trent looked happy, and more relaxed than Kurt had ever seen him before. He had even lost a bit of that baby-faced look he had been so insecure about in high school. 

The concert itself was highly entertaining. Some of the boys were quite talented, while others made up for musical quality with their ability to ham it up. The soloist on “Midnight Train to Georgia” was frankly breathtaking, and Kurt wondered whether he was one of those math or physics majors who just happened to have a phenomenal voice. Kurt thought that Blaine was going to leap out of his seat to join them when the group did “Superstition,” but he calmed down when they began singing Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes,” giving Kurt a watery look and gripping his hand by the time Trent sang the last verse, _So I would choose to be with you, that’s if the choice were mine to make. But you can make decisions too, and you can have this heart to break. And so it goes, and so it goes, and you’re the only one who knows._

“I love you so much,” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s ear as the audience stood and clapped around them, waiting for the group to return for their encore. 

“Love you too, sweetie, love you too,” Kurt responded, curling his arm around Blaine’s shoulders and squeezing him tight. Blaine might be a little more emotional than usual these days, but Kurt felt it too. Music had always pushed them both over the edge, and tonight was no exception. Luckily the group’s last number was a rollicking rendition of “Zombie Jamboree” which had them both giggling; Blaine of course dancing and singing along and getting that look on his face that meant Kurt would be hearing the refrain sung over and over for the next few weeks. _Back to back, belly to belly, well I don’t give a damn ‘cause I’m stoned dead already. Back to back, belly to belly, it’s a zombie jamboree._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Vineyard Sound is a real group who perform every summer all over Martha’s Vineyard (although as far as I know no Glee cast member has ever sang with them). Check out their recordings online, or if you are ever lucky enough to be on the Vineyard in the summer, make sure to go see them.
> 
> And please, if you are enjoying this story, leave me a comment and let me know!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always to my wonderful betas, perry_avenue and Alianne82.

Kurt wasn’t sure how many margaritas he had drunk, or for how long he had been singing, but he supposed he should have expected an abundance of both alcohol and serenading at what essentially felt like a grown up version of a Warbler party. Emphasis on _grown up,_ Kurt thought, admiring one of the singers who had apparently become tired of his shirt and was dancing on a coffee table, his fine set of tanned abs on display. Blaine was curled up on the couch, fast asleep, but as soon as Kurt noticed and started to make his way over to him (whether to wake him up or join him, he hadn’t been sure) Trent had dragged him away, pressing another margarita into his hand, “this one is key lime pie flavored, Kurt, you’ll love it,” and demanding that he pick the next song. He had already done “I’m Still Here” and several Sondheim tunes, which the guys seemed to love, and when he suggested doing some Beatles the group went crazy, pulling him in to their arrangement of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” 

Later Kurt felt gentle hands smoothing his hair back and Blaine’s voice softly asking him to get up, so he complied, able to walk but with the sinking realization in a part of his brain that was clearly not controlling his actions that he had had far, far too much to drink. He heard himself babbling something to Blaine about what a good time he had that night, and how beautiful Blaine’s eyelashes were, and then quickly edited that to say that of course every part of him was beautiful, all the time, he wasn’t just saying that because he was drunk. Blaine just kept petting his arm and whispering encouraging things in his ear, while another person seemed to be apologizing to Blaine about letting things get out of control. Someone was helping him get into the back seat of a car – was this Blaine’s car? No, Blaine’s car would never be this messy – and then Blaine was next to him, laying Kurt’s head down on his lap. Kurt ran his fingers over the hair on Blaine’s calf, down to his slender ankles and back up again to his knee, enjoying the feeling of Blaine’s skin under his fingers. Then they were out of the car, and going up stairs that seemed to last forever, and then he was finally laying down again.

By the time Kurt woke up the next day, he was convinced that he was never going to drink again. At some point during the night he had woken up and stumbled to the bathroom, throwing up more than he ever imagined he could have consumed, listing weakly against the sink while Blaine wiped his face and helped him brush his teeth. He couldn’t remember ever having been this drunk before, or this sick, not even that horrible time in high school. And now, he thought, as he squinted tentatively over at Blaine, who was cheerfully propped up next to him on the bed, book in hand, he was probably going to have the worst hangover of his life.

Blaine saw him open his eyes. “Hey there,” he said softly. “How are you feeling?”

Kurt licked his dry lips, which felt, frankly, pretty gross, and Blaine turned to hand him a water bottle from the night table. The water felt weird going down, more good than bad, he supposed, but his throat just burned.

“Bad headache?” Blaine asked, still whispering, taking the water back from Kurt.

Kurt opened his eyes fully and moved his head back and forth. Huh. No headache. Maybe he had thrown up his ability to feel pain along with the rest of his insides last night. Or it could be all the water Blaine had made him drink once his stomach had settled. He shook his head at Blaine, who smiled back approvingly. Kurt slowly sat up, and was relieved not to feel that awful spinning sensation that had plagued him off and on throughout the night. Apart from a general all over stiffness and a desperate need to shower, he was actually feeling okay.

“I think I-“ Kurt abruptly stopped speaking, alarmed at the croaking noise that had come out of his mouth.

Blaine’s eyes went wide and he handed Kurt back the bottle of water. “Oh honey, your poor throat. Drink some more.” When Kurt grimaced as he swallowed, Blaine jumped out of bed, taking the water bottle with him. “The water hurts, doesn’t it? I’ll make you some tea. Chamomile, maybe? Lie down, I’ll be right back.”

Kurt watched his mostly naked fiancé practically fly out of the bedroom, and contemplated lying back down. He really wasn’t sleepy any more, and frankly the bedroom smelled rather rank, probably a side effect of his nighttime trip to vomit land. He gingerly slid out of bed, making sure his legs would hold him, and then opened the windows, letting in some fresh air. The windows opened easily, reminding Kurt that checking the new windows was on their renovation approval checklist, something that neither of them had given any attention to yet.

Kurt rummaged through the dresser drawers and pulled on the pair of soft flannel pants and old Dalton t-shirt of Blaine’s that he always wore when he was sick. He wasn’t sure why Blaine had brought them along, but they always made him feel better, so on they went. Careful to hold on to the railing, Kurt slowly made his way down the narrow stairs, and lowered himself on to the couch. Whew. While it was true he didn’t have a headache, he certainly didn’t feel 100%. 

Blaine appeared, smiling when he saw Kurt wearing his clothes, and sat close to him on the couch. “I just poured you half a cup, so it would be easier to drink,” he explained, handing Kurt the steaming mug of tea. “I’ll get you more when you’re ready.”

Kurt wanted to scoff at Blaine, but even the half-filled mug felt heavy in his hands. He leaned against Blaine’s shoulder as he brought the tea to his lips, taking small sips.

“Does that feel better on your throat?” Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded. The heat felt great, actually. He finished the cup quickly, and handed it back to Blaine. 

“More?”

Another nod.

Blaine was back in just a minute with more tea, and the throw blanket Kurt had seen in Blaine’s grandmother’s room. He snuggled in close to Kurt and pulled the blanket over both of them, watching as Kurt drank. “Still good?” he asked.

Kurt nodded and set the mug down on the side table. As much as he hadn’t felt tired just a few minutes ago, the tea and the close proximity of Blaine, warm and solid, were making him sleepy once more. Kurt blinked, realizing that Blaine had asked him a question, and raised his eyebrows.

Blaine laughed softly, pushing Kurt’s floppy hair off his forehead. “I said, do you want to sleep or watch a movie?” 

Kurt struggled to clear his throat. “Both?” he choked out.

“Okay, deal. But promise me not to talk anymore.”

Kurt gave Blaine his sassiest look, which just made him laugh again. “Fine, I know I asked you a question, it’s all my fault.” Blaine got up and Kurt grabbed his wrist, causing him to fall back on the couch on top of Kurt. Blaine quickly righted himself, but paused to give Kurt a smacking kiss on the cheek before he stood up again. “Patience, Kurt. Let me find us a movie to watch and I’ll be right back.”

Soon _The Little Mermaid_ was playing in the DVD player, and Blaine settled back down next to Kurt, placing a small pad of paper and a pencil on the ottoman in front of him. “No talking, okay?”

Kurt nodded, then picked up the pad of paper and scribbled on it. **Nice movie choice.**

Blaine grinned. “I though it seemed appropriate. Although I don’t think Ariel lost her voice by partying too hard, did she?”

Kurt smacked Blaine on the knee and then slumped down on the couch, shifting so that Blaine could snuggle in behind him. The couch was soft and comfortable, and Kurt realized that the whole set of furniture was brand new. It was sad to think about all the nice little touches Blaine’s parents had added to the old house in anticipation of their trip out here with Nora. The thought of Katie and Bob picking out furniture for her that she would never get to use was not a happy one, and Kurt quickly pushed it out of his mind. Hopefully this hadn’t occurred to Blaine yet.

Blaine, in fact, seemed perfectly content, pressed tight up against Kurt’s back, an arm loosely slung over Kurt’s waist. He was humming along to all the songs, of course, joining in here and there when he just couldn’t help himself. Kurt felt bad that Blaine’s face was planted right next to Kurt’s sweaty hair, but it didn’t seem to be bothering Blaine, and there wasn’t much he was going to do about it now.

Kurt only realized he had fallen asleep when he woke up, Blaine climbing over him with an apologetic look. “Sorry, I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” he said. “Be right back.”

Kurt dozed lazily, pushing himself up to a sitting position when Blaine returned with more tea. “Drink a little, then maybe we’ll talk about lunch?”

Kurt complied, letting the hot tea soothe his throat. He twisted around, looking for a clock, and spotted the time on the DVD player. 3:25. How on earth had that happened?

“Beach?” he croaked out.

“What?” Blaine asked, not understanding. “Here.” Blaine handed him the pad and pencil.

 **Today was supposed to be a beach day, and I ruined it,** Kurt wrote, adding a little unhappy face at the end.

“Oh, honey, no you didn’t,” Blaine assured him. “Come here.” Blaine dragged him off the couch and over to the front door, swinging it open to reveal a veritable downpour. “It’s been coming down hard for the past hour or so, and it was cloudy all morning before that. It would have been a _terrible_ beach day.” Blaine closed the door and cupped Kurt’s face in his hand, placing a gentle kiss on his lips as Kurt closed his eyes. “Besides, this way I get to spend the whole day cuddling you. It’s a win-win.”

Kurt laughed, but it came out like the sound of a dying frog, just making him cackle more. 

“Oh my god, Kurt, stop, you’re killing me,” Blaine said, laughing too. “I guess it’s not exactly a win-win. More like a win-croak.”

This earned Blaine a pinch under his still-naked ribs, and a reproving glance from Kurt.

“What, you don’t like my non-existent comfy clothes? It really doesn’t seem fair of you to judge me, especially when you’re wearing the set I packed.” Blaine led Kurt back over to the couch and handed him the cup of tea again. “Why don’t you drink this, and I’ll go shower and change, and then make us some lunch?”

Kurt finished the tea and then wandered into the kitchen. He really was hungry, and he was bored. Not a great combination. They hadn’t been to the grocery store yet since they had arrived, except a quick trip to get some bread, milk and butter that first day, but they had brought some basics with them. He poked through the cabinets, finally pulling out a box of his favorite comfort food – macaroni and cheese, the kind with the bright orange cheese, not the all natural one. Burt used to make this for him before Kurt was old enough to know better, and as far as he was concerned, it tasted wonderful. Blaine had insisted they bring some along, noting that since it was their vacation, they could eat anything they wanted. Kurt had excitedly agreed – he wasn’t sure he could go two weeks without worrying about what he ate, but he was willing to give it a try.

By the time Blaine came downstairs, dressed in a pair of blue and white seersucker shorts and a light pink polo, Kurt had already put the macaroni in a pot of boiling water and was searching around for a bowl to put the cheese powder in.

“Mmm,” Kurt said, walking his fingers up Blaine’s chest and into his damp curls. “You look delicious,” he croaked out, inhaling the familiar smell of Blaine’s shaving cream and rubbing his face over Blaine’s smooth cheek. They stood together for a minute, Blaine’s hands coming to rest at the small of Kurt’s back, thumbs rubbing gently up and down.

With a hiss, the water boiled over the edge of the pot, and Kurt spun to turn down the heat. “Sorry.”

“Shh, no talking,” Blaine reminded him. “You sound a little better, but you shouldn’t push it.” He came over to the stove and gave the pasta a stir. “Yum, mac and cheese! I knew if I brought it you’d eat it. How long until it’s done?”

Kurt frowned and pointed at the timer on the stove, which read four minutes.

“Oh, cool, I didn’t see that.” Blaine found a colander and placed it in the sink, coming back to examine the stove. “The stove certainly looks nice. We were supposed to go over the whole kitchen with the checklist, weren’t we?” Blaine asked, not seeming particularly concerned. Kurt thought he might sing a different tune when his parents called for a report, but so far, there had been radio silence from them since they arrived on the island. It was nice, in a way – Blaine’s parents trusted them to figure most things out for themselves. And it was beyond nice being here, with no one else to answer to, even for just a little while. Although being able to talk again would be good.

Kurt wasn’t really worried about the state of his voice, and the fact that Blaine was so calm about it helped, too. He had lost his voice before after a particularly strenuous week of Glee rehearsals, and another time after staying up late talking with Rachel and Mercedes until all hours. And Blaine was right that he already sounded better than he had this morning. While a teeny tiny voice in his head was screaming _but your voice is your whole life, go see a doctor immediately!_ there was no way Kurt was going to give in to irrational panic, not yet, at least. If he wasn’t significantly better tomorrow, he’d raise it with Blaine. But for now, hot tea, mac and cheese, and cuddling with his fiancé were the only remedies he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Klainebingo prompt for this chapter was "loss of voice." I thought putting it at the beginning might spoil it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Blaine finally get their beach day... and run into an old acquaintance.

Blaine had convinced Kurt that getting to the beach early would be worth it, and as they walked up over the dunes to get their first full glimpse of the ocean, he could tell Kurt agreed. “Blaine. It’s amazing.”

South Beach stretched out along the south shore of the island (hence the name), a three mile long textbook example of the most perfect of New England beaches. The surf was high after the previous day’s storm, crashing over and over against the sand. It was almost deserted so early in the morning, and they had their pick of locations, Kurt choosing to walk for a while before settling down. They spread out their beach blanket and took off their sandals, arranging their bag and towels around the edge of the blanket to keep it secure. 

The day was bright and sunny, and promised to be scorchingly hot, although here by the ocean there was a constant cooling breeze that would only pick up as the day went on. Kurt was already pulling the sunblock out of their bag, and gave Blaine a fond look as he pulled off his black t-shirt. “You are going to help me with this, right?”

Kurt had declined Blaine’s offer of a beach umbrella, noting that it would probably be more trouble than it was worth, but had invested in some serious sunblock, which they had both already applied to their faces before they left the house. Blaine grinned and plopped down next to him on the blanket, taking the tube of lotion out of Kurt’s hand. “It would be my pleasure to assist you,” he said, resulting in an eye roll from Kurt. 

“None of that, now. There are children present,” Kurt responded, indicating a family with two little kids walking past them.

“I do have to touch you to put the sunscreen on,” Blaine teased. He had noticed, in fact, that Kurt had passed up the spray-on sunscreen in favor of the more traditional lotion, and wondered if it was because he liked the idea of them doing this together. Blaine certainly did.

Kurt rolled on to his stomach, revealing his lovely, long back, complete with the silly tattoo that was so perfectly Kurt. He moaned appreciatively as Blaine began coating his skin with the lotion, from the tops of his shoulders out to his hands, and then down his back to his narrow waist. “Mmm, that’s nice.” After a few minutes they switched and Kurt did the same for Blaine, getting a little distracted and stopping to plant a few kisses on the back of his neck and up under his ears. Then Kurt grazed his hand over Blaine’s ass and down to his thighs, applying more lotion and massaging as he went, until he got to Blaine’s feet and nearly got kicked in the face.

“Sorry – ticklish!” Blaine apologized, rolling over and putting a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “I didn’t actually get you, did I?”

“No, but you did kind of break the mood,” Kurt chided. “Come on, we’re not done.”

Sitting up facing each other, they proceeded to smear sunscreen all over each other’s chests, poking and tickling until they were practically in hysterics. “I’m not sure we’re doing this right,” Blaine gasped, trying to knock Kurt’s hand away as he went to poke his belly again.

“Oh, I think we are.” Kurt shoved Blaine down on the blanket and attacked his stomach with a resounding raspberry. 

Finally they calmed down, laying back on the blanket and letting the sun soak into them. Blaine was pretty sure he could fall asleep and just stay here all day, he was so relaxed. He loved the sound of the ocean, and the smell of the salt, and the warmth of Kurt right next to him. After a while he rolled over onto his stomach and pillowed his head on his arms, blinking a little as he took a moment to just admire his handsome fiancé, as relaxed as he was, flat on his back and seemingly dead to the world.

In retrospect, Blaine was glad that Kurt had been able to throw caution to the wind and really let go at the party the other night. Not that they didn’t usually have fun when they went out with their friends – they did – but Kurt often seemed to think that he had to be the responsible one, had to look out for Blaine; Blaine didn’t know if it was because he was younger, or if Kurt still held that night at Scandals against him, but he often said he didn’t want to drink, and so Blaine didn’t drink much either. They had plenty of fun without drinking anyway, not to mention the fact that they were both still underage. Blaine had talked about it with Sam once, who immediately made him feel like an idiot for not just raising it with Kurt, but he wasn’t sure that it fell into the category of “problem that needed to be discussed.” They had enough of those over the past few months; sometimes he just wanted things to go smoothly, without so many dramatic moments. Blaine could hear a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Santana cackling at him at this thought – fine, he told the Santana voice – so we’re dramatic. Big surprise.

Blaine was pulled out of his reverie by a noisy group of kids who traipsed by, their footsteps tossing a fine spray of sand over his legs. Blaine’s feet were off the edge of the blanket and he wiggled his toes in the sand, then moved a foot over until he could slide it under Kurt’s ankle.

“You’ll tan funny if you do that,” Kurt murmured, taking Blaine’s hand and turning his head to face him, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses.

“Don’t care. And with the amount of sunscreen you slathered on me, I don’t think I’m going to get tan anyway.”

“Sure. How do you explain the lovely shade your skin has already achieved, despite the fact that we’re only been here a few days and it’s been cloudy for half of them?” Kurt reached out and ran a finger from Blaine’s shoulder down his arm, smiling at him.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

“Indeed.”

Blaine pushed himself up and looked around. The beach was becoming more crowded, with families and groups of teens scattered all over. He couldn’t help but notice a couple who were apparently completely unconcerned about shocking the delicate minds of the kids playing nearby, a blonde girl who reminded him of Kitty wrapped up around a taller man, making out like there was no tomorrow. The man looked oddly familiar, but Blaine couldn’t get a very good look at him, given that his face was permanently attached to his girlfriend’s.

“Want to swim?” Kurt asked. 

“Definitely.” Blaine rose and held out his hand to pull Kurt to his feet. They shivered as they approached the edge of the water, the waves icy cold as they rolled over their feet.

Kurt rubbed his hands up and down his arms, hissing as they walked in a little deeper. “Is it always this cold here?”

“Afraid so.” Blaine jumped as a bigger wave crashed toward them, soaking them up to their waists. There weren’t many other people in the water, although a few were playing at the edge. Blaine glanced at Kurt, who seemed to be a little hesitant, and gave his hand a squeeze.

“Kurt? Have you been in the ocean before?”

Kurt huffed. “What kind of question is that?”

“Um, a serious question? The waves are pretty rough today, it can be a little intimidating. You don’t have to go in-“

“I’m fine. My legs are getting numb now, anyway. Let’s go before I change my mind.”

They gauged the rush of the waves, surging forward and jumping through the smaller ones, finally getting out past where the waves were breaking. 

“Oh my god, it’s freezing!” Kurt exclaimed, bobbing up and down near Blaine. “What was I thinking?”

“You were thinking you wanted to swim with your handsome fiancé.” Blaine said, swimming over to Kurt and leaning in to give him a quick kiss, which luckily actually landed on his lips. They kept treading water, moving up and down as the waves rolled in. 

“We should bring those next time,” Kurt looked over at some kids on boogie boards, riding the waves in to shore.

“You can body surf – you don’t need the board.” Blaine suggested. “Watch me.” He looked behind him, waited for a big wave to approach, and then started swimming towards shore, letting the wave carry him in, then swam back out to Kurt. “What do you think?”

They played around for a while, Kurt impressing Blaine with his immediate success at body surfing, until they were both turning a little blue. “Time for lunch?” Kurt asked.

“Sounds good.” They turned to head back in, and Blaine took a minute to smile at Kurt, who looked so young with his hair plastered down to his head. He watched Kurt duck under a wave, and took a breath to do the same. As Blaine came up for air, a second wave came quickly behind the first, hitting him sideways, knocking him down and pulling him under the water, filling his ears with swirling noise. When he finally came up again he was disoriented, and it took him a minute to clear his head and figure out which way to keep swimming. When he finally made it back to shore, he flopped down on the beach, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly he realized Kurt wasn’t with him. Standing up, he looked back towards their blanket, but Kurt wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. “Kurt? Kurt?” he yelled, stepping into the water. Why wasn’t he back on the beach? He didn’t see anyone in the water. “Kurt? Where are you?” Blaine spun around, trying to keep calm.

He walked out further into the water, frantically searching the waves. There wasn’t much undertow here, but if Kurt had gotten tumbled around like he had, he might have come up a ways down the beach. Blaine looked up towards the lifeguard station, but the girl he had seen earlier up on the chair wasn’t there. Maybe she had already found Kurt? Was he drowning?

“Hey, over here,” someone called, and Blaine turned toward the sound, nearly getting pushed over by another wave as he did so. It was the blond girl waving at him, her boyfriend helping someone up on to the sand. Please let it be Kurt. 

Blaine stumbled out of the water and ran over to them, his heart racing. Kurt was on his hands and knees, choking and coughing, and Blaine rushed to put his arm around him. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Try and breathe, honey.” Blaine rubbed his back, then helped him roll over to sit next to him, hunched down and gasping. “You’re okay.”

“Blaine,” Kurt coughed out. “I got knocked over, I couldn’t get up.”

“I know. I’m so sorry. You’re okay now.”

“Here.” Blaine looked up – he had completely forgotten about the blond girl and her boyfriend, who were still hovering nervously around them. The girl was holding a towel and a bottle of water. She handed the towel to Blaine, and he helped Kurt wipe his face and then draped it over his shoulders. 

“Thank you.” Blaine said, taking the water bottle from the blond girl and handing it to Kurt, helping him take a drink when he realized how badly Kurt’s hands were shaking. 

Kurt blinked at Blaine, his eyes leaking tears, and Blaine pulled him into a tight hug. “That was freaking scary,” Kurt said, letting Blaine squeeze him. 

“I know,” Blaine said softly. “Thank goodness for your rescuers.” Blaine took a closer look at the two, realizing that the girl really didn’t look at all like Kitty now that he could see her face, but the guy still looked familiar. Something about his eyes…

Kurt took a deep breath and sat up, running his hand through his messy hair. “Indeed.” He looked at the two strangers. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” the girl said gently, sitting back on her heels. “I’m Millie, and this is Max, by the way.”

“Maxwell Smythe, at your service,” the man said with a little bow, his green eyes flashing in the sun and his easy smirk suddenly turning on a lightbulb in Blaine’s brain. “If we’re doing proper introductions.”

“Smythe?” Kurt asked, sitting up straighter. “You wouldn’t by any chance be related to-“

“Me?” Another tall guy bounded over with a grin, slapping Max on the back. “Quite a coincidence otherwise, wouldn’t you say?” Sebastian posed next to Max, the resemblance quite eerie, only the different colors of their plaid swim trunks distinguishing them.

“Sebastian,” Blaine said dryly. “Of course it’s you.”

“I think I’m hallucinating,” Kurt muttered, turning his face into Blaine’s neck. “Tell me Sebastian Smythe’s twin didn’t just rescue me from drowning.”

“You weren’t really drowning, and frankly Millie pulled you out, not me,” Max said. “And we’re not twins,” Max said. “He’s my little brother. Not so little anymore, I suppose, but some things never change.”

“You can say that again,” Kurt groaned.

“Look, I was just setting out the giant feast my mom packed for us.” Sebastian waved towards a spot further up on the beach. “Why don’t you join us? Give us a chance to catch up.”

“Thanks anyway, Sebastian,” Blaine began. “But…”

“Come on,” Sebastian urged. “It could hardly get more awkward, and for the three of us, that’s a pretty high bar. At least come eat –there’s enough lobster for about ten lobster rolls, some kind of nectarine and blueberry concoction, and the best cheesecake bites you’ve ever tasted.”

“Cheesecake?” Kurt asked. “Really? At the beach?” He looked at Blaine. “Shall we?”

Blaine smiled, standing up and pulling Kurt to his feet. “You really can’t be expected to resist cheesecake.”

“I really can’t.”

As promised, the food was delicious, as was the fresh lemonade with sprigs of mint that Sebastian poured out into sturdy glasses. “I know, my mom’s a little nuts when it comes to food,” Sebastian admitted. “But she hasn’t seen either of us in a while, and I think she likes to pamper us.”

“I think she’s trying to impress Millie,” Max said, popping a piece of cheesecake into his girlfriend’s mouth, and following it up with a kiss. “She figures if she feeds her well enough, she might overlook my tendency to be an arrogant ass from time to time.” 

“Guess you’re really brothers,” Kurt commented. 

“Very funny,” Sebastian responded, swatting his brother on the ass as he and Millie excused themselves to take a walk. Blaine figured they were just going to find another place to make out, as that seemed to be their favorite activity.

“So what brings you guys to the Vineyard, anyway?” Sebastian asked. “One of your new East Coast classmates have a place out here?”

“My family has a house in Edgartown,” Blaine answered, hoping that would put an end to the line of questioning.

“Nice!” Sebastian said approvingly. “I admit I’m surprised, though. Not many Ohioans summer here, not even the preppy ones.”

“My dad grew up in Connecticut. It was my grandmother’s house.” Blaine felt Kurt lean a little closer, pressing his arm up against Blaine’s, silently indicating his support. 

“I remember her - sweet lady, ridiculously curly hair. She came to Regionals our junior year, right? She congratulated me on my performance of _Glad You Came_ and said she was impressed that the Warblers were donating money to the _Born This Way_ fund. How’s she doing?”

Not so well, Blaine thought. He wanted to say something witty, but just like that, his throat closed up, and he looked helplessly at Kurt.

“She passed away a few weeks ago,” Kurt said calmly. 

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Blaine thought that Sebastian did in fact look sorry. “I just can’t seem to get anything right with you guys, can I?”

“It’s okay, Sebastian,” Blaine said softly. “You couldn’t have known. But it’s nice to hear that you remember her.”

“Yeah.” Sebastian paused. “She said she didn’t know who to root for, at the competition, because even though you weren’t a Warbler anymore, she would always be grateful to the Warblers.”

“Grateful? For what?” Blaine asked, wishing as soon as he opened his mouth that he hadn’t.

“Honestly, I didn’t really understand what she was saying. Something about helping you heal.” Sebastian fidgeted, stacking up their empty plates.

Blaine couldn’t believe his grandmother had this conversation with Sebastian, of all people. He was glad he had never told her who had been responsible for the rock salt slushie. Better that she continued to believe that the Warblers were that safe place they had been for him when he first came to Dalton.

Kurt spoke up abruptly, changing the subject. “So, Sebastian, what have you been up to? We thought we’d hear from you this year – aren’t you at Columbia?”

After a beat, Sebastian caught on. “What, you missed me? Actually I didn’t go to Columbia. Changed my mind at the last minute and went to Princeton. I liked their science program better.”

“Science?” Kurt asked.

“I’m not just another pretty face,” Sebastian replied, grinning. “What about you guys? Still trampling the competition at NYADA?”

“Afraid so,” Kurt replied, pausing to pop a blueberry into his mouth. “June Dalloway even put together a showcase to introduce Blaine to the world.”

“I know,” Sebastian replied. “You did a great job, Blaine.”

Kurt snorted. “How would you know?”

“What?” Sebastian responded. “The show choir blogs haven’t forgotten about Blaine just because he graduated high school.”

“It might be nice if you would stop creeping on my fiancé,” Kurt said lightly, throwing a blueberry at Sebastian.

“Hey, give me a little credit here. I practically had to blow the Dean to get him to let Blaine use Dalton for your proposal – and I whipped together the entire number for the Warblers practically overnight!”

Some time later, Blaine felt Kurt’s hand threading through his tangled curls, and realized that he was lying down on Kurt’s lap, his cheek pressed against his warm thigh. He must have fallen asleep. He heard Sebastian and Kurt continuing to banter, although it might have been Max, their voices sounded so similar, it was confusing. Millie was saying something about going back in the water, and Blaine felt Kurt shudder. Not to worry, Blaine thought to himself, there’s no way we’re going back in there today.

Blaine roused himself and sat up. The wind had picked up, and the beach was starting to empty out, parents gathering their small children, sunburned and cranky from a long day in the sun. 

“Have a nice nap?” Sebastian asked.

Blaine bristled, but before he could respond, Sebastian continued. “I love sleeping at the beach. The sound of the wind and the waves always puts me right out.” 

Blaine glanced at Kurt, but Kurt was taking Sebastian’s comment at face value, not as some kind of subtle dig. Kurt seemed to have fallen under the spell of the sun and the sand, relaxed and content, despite the fact that Blaine had slept through a good part of the afternoon leaving him to deal with Sebastian.

“Yeah, me too,” Blaine said. 

“Ready to head back?” Kurt asked, stretching out the leg that Blaine had used as a pillow. “We’ve been here long past our allotted time.”

“Not a beach person, Kurt?” Sebastian asked.

“I can be a beach person and still take care of my skin, Sebastian. And you should too. Wrinkles at thirty will not enhance your image.” Kurt stood up and offered his arm to Blaine. “Come on, let’s go drag our salty selves back to the house and give that outdoor shower a try.” Kurt gave Sebastian a pointed glance. “Blaine has been dying for me to use this thing. I think it will be a little tight for the two of us, but I’m willing to try anything for my sweetie.”

Blaine giggled as they walked away, Sebastian’s grudging “touché, Kurt,” ringing in his ears.

Blaine insisted on driving back to the house, since by the time they got back to the car Kurt looked like he was about to pass out. They made a quick stop at a store on the way back, Kurt insisting that just because the sign outside said “pies” that they didn’t actually have to buy any, but Blaine was driving so there wasn’t much Kurt could do. He changed his mind quickly when he saw all the gourmet goodies in the little shop, and they happily bought some supplies for a light dinner. 

Back at the house Blaine burst into giggles again when Kurt suggested the outdoor shower, but they both realized that they still hadn’t moved any shampoo or towels downstairs, and opted to use the fully stocked indoor shower instead. Kurt insisted on washing Blaine’s hair, grumbling nonstop as he rinsed it again and again. “You’ve got more sand in here than on the entire island, Blaine. How is this even possible,” he complained. Of course Kurt’s hair had plenty of sand in it too, and due in part to the fact that they had both been rolled around by the waves, they had sand in other even less comfortable parts of their bodies as well. Finally Kurt declared that his skin couldn’t take any more hot water, and he stepped out, wrapping a towel around his dripping body. He encouraged Blaine to stay in and shampoo one more time, but Blaine wasn’t having any of it, quickly following Kurt out and trailing behind him as he picked out soft t-shirts and sleep pants for them to wear. 

They went downstairs, Blaine staying close to Kurt in the narrow kitchen as they prepared their dinner. Kurt arranged the cheeses they had bought at the gourmet store on a platter with some blackberries while Blaine tossed some lettuce and cucumber with a vinaigrette. Two glasses of crisp white wine, courtesy of the vacation care package Blaine’s parents had given them, completed the meal. They didn’t bother with the dining table, but just brought their goodies over to the couch and set them on the ottoman on a tray.

After a few minutes Blaine leaned against Kurt, wine glass resting on his leg.

“Too tired to eat, baby?” Kurt asked, offering him a blackberry.

“Almost.” Blaine chased the blackberry with the wine, enjoying the effect, but then set the glass down on the side table. He didn’t feel quite right, and he was pretty sure that alcohol wouldn’t improve the situation. He let Kurt feed him a few more bites of cheese, and roused himself enough to do the same for Kurt, enjoying the flavor of the creamy cheese and tart wine on Kurt’s lips when he kissed them clean.

Kurt was getting up to bring the tray back into the kitchen when Blaine reached out and grabbed his wrist, just avoiding knocking the platter out of Kurt’s hands. “Blaine? What’s wrong?”

Blaine squeezed his eyes together for a moment, hating the tight feeling in his throat that seemed to block his words so often these days. He shrugged, swallowing hard. He didn’t know, he just didn’t want Kurt to leave.

“Want to go get under the covers?”

Blaine nodded. Kurt set the tray back down, and gently pulled Blaine up into a tight hug, then led him upstairs.

At some point during the most difficult moments of the past year, he and Kurt had realized that even more important than make up sex was the strategy they had developed for times when one or the other of them just felt off. If they could catch this feeling early enough, they discovered, they could address the problem before it turned into something more upsetting. It wasn’t anything earth shattering, just the two of them wrapped up together in bed, safe and warm, talking and listening.

Blaine crawled up on the bed as Kurt pulled the fluffy down comforter out of the closet. The thin patchwork quilt simply wasn’t going to cut it tonight. Kurt spread the blanket out over Blaine, and then slid in next to him, pulling him close until Blaine’s head was snuggled into Kurt’s neck, his arm and chest resting on Kurt’s, and his leg draped over Kurt’s thigh. Kurt rubbed his back soothingly for a while, and Blaine concentrated on the rise and fall of Kurt’s chest under his body, his breath going in and out, in and out.

“Tell me,” Kurt said softly. Because that’s how this worked – that’s why it worked. When Blaine felt insecure, or Kurt got defensive, the only real fix was to just push through it and actually talk about it. And wrapped up in their blanket cocoon, somehow it was easier to say the things that made them shiver inside, and easier to hear them.

Blaine raised his head and slid off Kurt a little bit, both of them rolling on to their sides so they could look at each other. “At the beach today, when we were swimming back in, the waves tossed me around, too. When I finally got back to the beach, it took me a minute to realize you weren’t with me. And then I just,” he broke off, his voice catching. Kurt put a hand on his cheek, and he closed his eyes, focusing on the feel of Kurt’s hand against his face. “I got really scared. I didn’t know where you were. I thought you might be gone. I,” Blaine sucked in a stuttering breath, trying to stay in control. “I know it was only a few minutes – maybe not even that long – before Millie called me over, but that feeling, it’s like I’ve been feeling the echo of that fear all day. It won’t go away.” Kurt pulled him close again, letting him sob and struggle for breath in the safety of his arms. “I can’t lose you, Kurt. I can’t.”

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay,” Kurt murmured, stroking his hair and his back and up and down his sides. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

When he finally calmed down, Blaine considered whether it would be possible to just keep his face hidden in Kurt’s shoulder for the rest of his life. Probably not. He wished he could just get a grip and snap out of this. Kurt deserved better. “I’m sorry, Kurt.” 

“Sorry? Sorry for what?”

“For being so emotional lately. It’s our vacation, and I just can’t seem to get it together.”

“Blaine?” Kurt pushed Blaine off his chest and wiped his tears with his thumb. “That’s the whole point of this vacation, don’t you remember?”

“What, me being sad?”

“Yes, if you need to be.”

Blaine looked into Kurt’s eyes, so sincere and caring. “You mean it, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. What good is time to ourselves if we can’t be ourselves? These two weeks are for us, to get away from everything, and heal up a little. Process the crazy of our regular lives. Be sad, be happy, whatever we want, whatever we need.”

“God, Kurt, I love you so much.”

“Mmm, I know. I love you too.”

Blaine snuggled back against Kurt, finally relaxing. It had been quite a day. How in the world they had managed to run into Sebastian on their vacation was beyond belief. Blaine chuckled, remembering Kurt’s parting comment.

“What’s so funny?” Kurt asked, sliding his hand up under Blaine’s shirt and tracing his fingers up and down his back.

“Vacation is for whatever I need?”

“Uh huh,” Kurt replied. 

“What if I need outdoor shower sex?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for this was "PDA" - it's the second time the prompt has been used in the story because I'm doing a 10-part klainebingo, so one of the prompts get repeated where the bingo lines cross.
> 
> Please comment and let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From sunrise to snuggling together under the stars.
> 
> Prompt: celebrity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my lovely betas, perry_avenue and Alianne82.

It was dark out the next morning when Kurt’s alarm went off, but he pushed himself out of bed obediently, excited as soon as he remembered what they were doing this morning. Kurt had done some research before their trip on the best place to watch the sun rise on the island, and discovered that several of the lighthouse locations were ideal. 

Kurt started the coffee maker and then padded back upstairs to take a quick shower and then wake Blaine. While it was hard to resist his fiancé’s morning cuddles, Blaine automatically grabbing Kurt and wrapping himself around him like a drowsy octopus, Kurt just gave him a quick kiss and then disentangled himself, pulling the comforter off the bed as he went.

“Kurt,” Blaine groaned, sitting up and rubbing his face. “Where’d you go?”

“Right here, sleepyhead. I checked the weather – it’s going to be clear today. Perfect sunrise conditions.” Kurt pushed Blaine towards the bathroom. “You’ve got fifteen minutes, no more, if you want me to save you any coffee.”

It was just after 5 a.m. when they parked near East Chop Lighthouse, one of two lighthouses that bracketed Vineyard Haven Harbor on the north coast of the island. Kurt gathered up their blanket and Blaine strung his camera around his neck before they headed across the street and through the gate. It was no longer completely dark, but sunrise was still about half an hour away. Kurt set down their picnic blanket – not the one they had brought to the beach, that one still needed a proper washing – and took the thermos of hot chocolate out of his bag, pouring them each a cup. They could see the hint of sun lighting up the horizon, and Blaine snapped a few pictures, walking back and forth to find the best spot.

Once again Kurt marveled at how very quiet it was on the island. Even more so now, of course, here at the base of the lighthouse, overlooking the calm water of Vineyard Sound, at the literal crack of dawn. It was so peaceful, an entirely different world from the noise and rush of the city.

Blaine joined Kurt on the blanket, sitting behind him and pulling him up against his chest. Kurt happily rested back against him, turning his head to snuggle into Blaine’s warm hoodie. There was a chill in the air that would likely disappear in the next hour or so, but it gave them the perfect opportunity to be close to each other. After a few minutes during which Kurt thought he might have actually dozed off, Blaine stood back up again and held out his hand to Kurt. The light was increasing, orange and yellow streaks lining the horizon. They walked over towards the edge of the cliff to get a better view, and Kurt noticed that they had been joined by several other people, all similarly watching the spot where the ocean met the sky.

Kurt stood behind Blaine, resting his head on his shoulder, as Blaine took a few more pictures. Blaine then insisted on taking some of Kurt with the sunrise in the background, and they were startled when a woman approached them, shyly inquiring if they would like her to take one of the two of them. Blaine handed over his camera and they posed, Kurt trying hard not to wonder if any of these would even come out, given the sun shining behind them. Blaine snapped a few shots of the woman, and then she wandered off, leaving them to themselves once more.

Finally the sun slipped fully up over the horizon, golden and bright, and Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt’s cheek. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Blaine said, the warm light making his skin glow.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Kurt replied, reaching out to stroke a finger along Blaine’s cheekbone. Blaine’s face lit up even more at Kurt’s comment. While usually Blaine was the more sentimental one, Kurt had his moments, too. And watching the sun rise with his gorgeous fiancé was apparently one of those moments.

\--------

After Blaine took a few more pictures of the lighthouse (and Kurt, and Kurt in front of the lighthouse, and a selfie of the two of them for an early morning Facebook post), they headed into the nearby town of Vineyard Haven. This was the where the ferry had brought them at the start of their vacation, which already seemed like it was years ago, despite it being less than a week. Vineyard Haven was a bit more of a working town than Edgartown, with a harbor able to accommodate commercial boats as well as pleasure yachts. While its waterfront wasn’t quite as scenic, it did boast what Blaine claimed was the very best place to get breakfast on the planet, along with some world class restaurants, and the hotel where the press corps stayed when President Obama visited the island every summer.

Their destination wasn’t open yet when they arrived, so Kurt and Blaine walked around the restaurant and out on to the dock. The Black Dog Café was right on the beach, and Blaine described how when he was little, his parents would sometimes let him come outside and look for shells when he got tired of sitting at the table. “You had trouble sitting still?” Kurt asked, grinning. “Hard to believe.” 

Blaine gave him a look. “I was an active kid,” he protested. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

They sat down on the edge of the dock, Blaine carefully setting his boat shoes next to him so they didn’t just fall off into the water. “Of course there’s not, sweetie.” Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine’s face, rubbing his cheek along the stubble that Blaine had neglected to shave off that morning. It was rare that Blaine left the house without shaving, and although their pre-dawn departure might have accounted for it, Kurt hoped it was also because Blaine was really relaxing here. He needed it, after recent events. 

Frankly, they both needed a chance to unwind and center themselves a little bit. They were getting better at communicating, but it was still sometimes tough to find the time to know what they needed to say, with classes and jobs and the constant pressure to succeed weighing down on them both. Kurt had thought that the absence of their friends would make it easier for the two of them to find time for each other, but it hadn’t been that simple – without Rachel and Sam to bounce their thoughts off of, they had only each other to rely on, and complain to, and worry about. Kurt had been a little worried that Artie had specifically chosen to go away for the summer to avoid being the sole focus of his and Blaine’s social life, but it turned out that Artie had applied for the program months before they knew that Rachel and Sam would be leaving the city.

“I went for a sail on the Shenandoah with my family once,” Blaine said, softly breaking their companionable silence. He pointed to the large sailboat moored nearby. “It was built in the 1960’s to recreate a square rigged schooner from the mid 1800’s. You can go on week long cruises, or day sails, or go out when the sun is setting. Cooper had a blast – he decided he was a pirate, and I was his first mate. My parents weren’t too pleased when he suggested giving me a peg leg, though.”

Kurt took Blaine’s hand and twined their fingers together, pleased to hear this little snippet about Cooper actually acting like a brother to Blaine. “And how did you feel about this plan?”

“Oh, you know me. I was happy to go along with whatever Cooper wanted to do.” Blaine shrugged. “Anyway, I got to spend the whole day sailing, so I was pretty much having an awesome day already.”

“You really like sailing, don’t you?” Blaine was clearly enamored with everything on the island, and seemed to have a wealth of knowledge about boats, from the little ones that darted around the beaches to the slim racing yachts in Edgartown. Kurt wondered how this had never really come up before. Maybe because there hadn’t been many opportunities to sail in Lima.

“Yeah, I do, although I really prefer smaller boats, where you can be close to the water.” Blaine tugged on the string of his hoodie, staring off into the harbor. “When I was in high school my parents tried to get me to spend a summer on one of those sea school sailing trips, but I didn’t want to.”

“Why not?”

Blaine smiled, bumping his shoulder up against Kurt’s. “You might say I had a better offer.”

It was getting close to seven o’clock when they wandered back over to the restaurant, noting that a few other hungry patrons were already congregating by the door. They were soon ushered in, and Kurt admired the long stretch of windows looking out on to the harbor. Their hostess led them to one of the small picnic style tables by the windows, and Blaine practically bounced with excitement as they sat down. “This is the best place to sit,” he said, sliding on to a bench. Blaine pulled off his sweatshirt and Kurt did the same, as the sun streaming through the windows warmed them quickly, along with the coffee that was served in sturdy mugs featuring the restaurant’s trademark black Labrador logo.

Kurt pulled his gaze away from Blaine and the sunlit harbor, glancing around the rest of the dining room. It was still mostly empty, except for a group of two tables at the other end of the line of windows, who seemed to be finishing up, despite the fact that the restaurant had only just opened. Several of the men seemed to be dressed rather formally for so early in the morning, and it was only when one of them stood to pay the bill that Kurt saw who was sitting just beyond them.

“Blaine!” Kurt hissed. “Look! It’s the First Lady!”

Sure enough, their server confirmed, Michelle Obama and Malia had come to the Black Dog for an early breakfast, along with a few friends, staff members, and the not very subtle security guards. “You can go say hi, you know.” the woman said with a smile. “There’s hardly anyone here, and they enjoy it.”

“Are you sure?” Kurt could feel his heart slamming in his chest. He had always admired Michelle Obama, for many reasons, not least of which was her fabulous sense of style.

“Go on, Kurt,” Blaine encouraged him, and Kurt took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

“Okay, but you’re coming with me.”

Kurt slowly walked over to the First Lady’s table, trying to figure out what to say. He clasped his hands together, trying to get them to stop shaking, and only just barely stopped himself from dropping into a little bow or curtsey or something when she looked up at him.

\----------

Blaine was pretty sure that watching Kurt meet Michelle Obama was one of the cutest things he had ever witnessed. Kurt was vibrating with excitement, practically walking on tip toes as he approached the First Lady. Blaine got the attention of someone who he hoped was a staff member, a red headed woman with an iPad open on the table in front of her, and held his camera up inquiringly. “Sure,” she said, grinning. “Just don’t get Malia, okay?” Blaine nodded and quickly turned his camera on, glad to see that Kurt was still chatting with his idol. He snapped a few pictures of the two of them talking, and then paused when Kurt introduced him, happily shaking the First Lady’s hand. 

“Can I get a picture of the two of you together?” he asked, grinning as Kurt blushed furiously before striking a pose. The red headed woman took Blaine’s camera and got a shot of all three of them, and then Kurt was babbling out his thanks and best wishes for them to have a wonderful vacation, and they were back in their seats.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe that just happened,” Kurt exclaimed. “She is even more beautiful in person, don’t you think? I’m pretty sure she’s wearing Jason Wu, that floral is breathtaking. And Malia, she knows about NYADA, she said she has a friend that goes there, isn’t that funny?”

Kurt continued to gush about the encounter, blushing again when the group got up to leave and Michelle and Malia waved at them on their way out. Finally he took a deep breath, and met Blaine’s eyes. “You’re never going to let me live this one down, are you?”

Blaine reached out and took Kurt’s hand in his across the table, squeezing it tight. “You’re adorable.”

\-----

Blaine sat on the porch swing in the backyard of the little house, pushing off with a toe every once in a while to keep the swing moving. It was long past midnight, but he couldn’t sleep, and he liked how quiet and peaceful it felt outside. He had a thin sweater of Kurt’s over his t-shirt, and the cool night air was just the right temperature for dozing. 

He wasn’t completely surprised when Kurt came out of the house some time later, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. “Couldn’t sleep?” He joined Blaine on the swing, pulling his knees up to his chest and offering him a chocolate chip cookie from the bag in his hands.

“No. I’m sorry I woke you, I tried to be quiet.”

“You were. But then I opened my eyes and you weren’t there, and you know how that makes me feel,” Kurt said, the moon catching the twinkle in his eyes.

Blaine smiled. “How’s that?”

“Hungry, of course.” Kurt grinned and took out another cookie, popping it into his mouth. “Didn’t I ever tell you that story?”

“What story?”

“Come here, it’s a good one.” Kurt held out the blanket and Blaine slid over, snuggling into his side and wrapping the blanket around them both. “When we weren’t living together this year, sometimes I had trouble sleeping.”

Blaine couldn’t help but note that Kurt now referred to this time period as ‘when they weren’t living together,’ instead of ‘when you moved out,’ which he thought was a good thing. “I didn’t know that.”

“Mmm, it’s true. One night Rachel caught me out of bed, making those caramel brownies you like, and was all ‘oh Kurt, you poor thing,’ and wanted me to cry on her shoulder. But I wasn’t in the mood to get into it with her, so I told her that I was fine, and that I just woke up because I was hungry.”

“And she believed you?”

“Well, Rachel might have, but somehow Santana got involved. And I knew they knew the truth, but I got kind of stubborn about it.”

“How uncharacteristic of you.”

“Shut up.” Kurt poked Blaine in the stomach. “Anyway, it got to be a thing – whenever I couldn’t sleep I’d start baking something, and they’d get up and tease me, and help me eat the food… eventually Rachel gained a few pounds and freaked out and put an end to it, which was kind of too bad.”

“Because you ended up with lots of delicious baked goods?”

“No, because it distracted me from missing you.” Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine’s cheek. “I’m glad I don’t have to sleep alone anymore, you know.” Kurt held up the bag. “Cookie?”

Blaine laughed. “No, thanks.”

Kurt leaned his head back and looked up. ““It’s really pretty out here. Real stars and everything, not just those stickers you wanted to put on our ceiling.”

Blaine wondered how long it would take Kurt to ask him what was wrong, or if he’d just go on being adorable until they both fell asleep. He figured he might as well spit it out. It wasn’t really anything bad, just thoughts that kept his mind too busy to rest. “You know, my grandpa died when I was pretty young. I don’t remember a lot about him. But my grandma talked about him all the time. She told me that they used to come out here and sit on this swing and look at the stars.”

“Did you sit out here with her?”

Blaine nodded. “She said it made her feel closer to him, that he would know we were here thinking of him. She loved him so much, even years after he was gone.” Kurt had set the bag of cookies aside, and Blaine took his hand, winding their fingers together. “I think we’ll be that way.”

Kurt stiffened, looking away from Blaine. He had that look on his face, like he did when something was bothering him but he hadn’t decided yet whether to address it or place it neatly somewhere else, where he could pretend it wasn’t there. 

“Kurt?” Blaine turned towards Kurt and slid his other hand around his waist, Kurt’s soft t-shirt warm under his fingers. “What is it?”

“I know you didn’t mean it that way, but… I’ve thought of that too.” Kurt’s voice was low, and Blaine thought he was resisting the urge to stand up and walk away. Kurt had a tendency to storm out when he got upset, and they both knew it. Kurt also knew how much it hurt Blaine.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Blaine stroked Kurt’s side gently with his thumb, willing Kurt to relax. “But I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

“My dad has cancer. My mom died young. I could, too.”

 _Oh._ “Kurt. That’s not what I meant. I meant we’d love each other like that, until we’re old and-“

“I know you didn’t mean that, I already said that,” Kurt said tightly. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I could die anytime, and leave you alone. What if we have kids? You’d be a single parent. I’m a terrible risk.” 

Blaine’s heart ached, and he pulled Kurt into a tight hug, the blanket falling off their shoulders. “Baby, it’s okay. It’s okay. You’re not a terrible risk, you know why?”

Kurt shook his head, bumping it up against Blaine’s chest.

“Because you’re the only one for me, Kurt. You’re it. You’re the love of my life, remember? Any time with you – no matter how short – is going to be worth it.” Blaine put a hand under Kurt’s chin and lifted his head, rubbing his nose against Kurt’s. “There’s no risk. I already won.”

Kurt met Blaine’s eyes, giving him an appraising stare, and then kissed Blaine hard, pushing him backwards against the seat. Coming up for air, he took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against Blaine’s. “That’s why I agreed to marry you now, you know. Or at least one of the reasons,” Kurt said seriously.

“What is?”

“Because you never know how much time you have.”

Blaine ran his fingers through Kurt’s hair, pushing his tousled bangs away from his face. “You know that just because your dad had cancer – cancer which he _beat,_ by the way – you’re not destined to get it.” Kurt didn’t reply, just closed his eyes and let Blaine continue to thread his fingers through his hair, leaning into his hand. “If you ever want to talk about it, I actually did a lot of reading about prostate cancer senior year.”

Kurt looked at Blaine. “You did?”

“Of course. I wanted to be able to understand what your dad was dealing with, and know what questions to ask the doctors.” Blaine watched Kurt process this information. He had taken the request to look after Burt very seriously, even if he hadn’t shared all he was doing with Kurt. At the time, he didn’t want it to seem like he was just helping Burt in order to get Kurt to forgive him. He figured if Burt wanted to pass it on, he would. “Only five to ten percent of prostate cancers are hereditary. So there’s a very small chance that your dad having it increases your risk. And if you’re nervous, we can see a doctor about it. You can get tested.”

“They can tell if I’ll get it?” Kurt whispered.

“No, but they can tell if you have it. And maybe we can find out if your dad’s cancer was the hereditary kind.”

Kurt nodded. “Okay.”

Blaine leaned back against the side of the swing and pulled Kurt on to his chest, then arranged the blanket on top of them both. He rubbed a hand soothingly over Kurt’s back. “Do you worry about this a lot?”

“Nope. It’s firmly in the category of things I usually don’t let myself think about.” 

“Like Santana walking in on us having sex in the shower and refusing to close the shower curtain?”

Kurt laughed. “Exactly. Evil demon spawn, she enjoyed that way too much.” Kurt shifted, causing them to swing a bit more enthusiastically. Kurt grabbed on to the back of the swing, and gave Blaine a look.

“What?”

“Can I say something kind of morbid?”

“You mean more morbid than thinking about dying of cancer?”

“Ha ha.” Kurt looked directly at Blaine, his blue eyes dark in the dim moonlight. “If I did die, even if you had to be a single father, you’d be fine. And they’d be fine. You’re going to be a great dad, with or without me.”

Blaine felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him. “Kurt, you’re not…”

“I know I’m not. But if I did, little Tracy and Hepburn would be sad, but you’d all come through it okay.”

Blaine laughed, despite the ache in his chest. Leave it to Kurt to follow such an emotional moment with a joke. “You have got to stop calling them that, it’ll stick.”

“I can’t believe you thought I was serious when I said that’s what I wanted to name our children,” Kurt said, giving Blaine a wry look.

“I can’t believe you let Quinn say she would be the egg donor.”

“It’s not the worst idea. Quinn is smart, and talented, and beautiful.”

“Yeah, but Rachel is all of those things too. Plus she looks a lot more like me, and her personality is much more like you, so-“

“Take that back, Blaine Warbler, how dare you say I’m like Rachel!”

The tickling that followed finally did knock them out of the swing, which then proceeded to whack Kurt on the hip when it swung back over them. Panting and giggling, they stumbled back into the house and up the stairs, belatedly shushing each other when they realized it was past two a.m. They landed on the bed with a thump, and Blaine immediately started attacking Kurt’s neck, pressing kisses into that spot under his ear that always made him moan. 

“This is the other reason you agreed to marry me, isn’t it?” Blaine said teasingly as Kurt melted beneath him.

“Shut up and kiss me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> President Obama and his family really do vacation on Martha's Vineyard, the press corps really does stay in a hotel in Vineyard Haven, and The Black Dog really does have the best breakfast on the planet.
> 
> Please let me know how you liked this chapter - just three more to go!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for an adventure... or, The One Where They Go Windsurfing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting - it was a busy weekend. At least this is a nice long chapter (for me, anyway). Enjoy!

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Blaine asked as they pulled into the lot of the watersports store. They had been talking about going windsurfing for a few days, but between one thing and another (including a day when they didn’t put clothes on until almost dinnertime, which Kurt wouldn’t trade for windsurfing in a million years) it hadn’t happened yet. But today was the day, and Kurt was excited. He had always wanted to learn how to windsurf, and it turned out that despite Blaine’s enthusiasm for all things water-related, he hadn’t ever been windsurfing either.

“Yes, for the hundredth time, I want to do this.” Kurt jumped out of the car and gave himself a quick once-over with the sunscreen while Blaine poked around in his bag for the water shoes they had brought. Uglier footwear was hard to imagine, but Kurt obediently tugged on the rubber-soled monstrosities and then offered the sunscreen to Blaine. They were both wearing their swim suits already, and Kurt thought he might just leave on his t-shirt for a bit of added sun protection. If he did this right, he probably wouldn’t fall in, anyway. Blaine had already stripped off his shirt, which worked fine for Kurt, although he had to remind himself not to get too distracted.

They had signed up a for a lesson this morning, but had to call and change the time when they got sidetracked in Oak Bluffs, having way too much fun on the antique carousel. Kurt’s competitive fire had been lit when he discovered that every time you went around on the carousel you could reach out and grab a metal ring, and if you got the brass ring, you won a free ride. There were even two ring dispensers – one for the taller kids, and one for the younger ones – so he didn’t feel too guilty about depriving a child of a free ride. Much to his delight, he actually got the brass ring on their second ride. Blaine insisted on sitting his free ride out, so Blaine could take pictures of Kurt, who knew he was grinning like a loon but just couldn’t bring himself to care.

After their adventure on the carousel and some time spent browsing in the shops, they were hungry. Kurt surprised Blaine by requesting that they eat at the casual Italian restaurant in town, passing up both the waterfront bars and the trendier cafes. Blaine had mentioned that his family used to eat here at least once on every trip, and even though it reminded Kurt of Breadstix, he thought a visit was appropriate. And it turned out that their eggplant parmesan was excellent, although their garlic bread was unimpressive.

One advantage of rescheduling their lesson for the afternoon seemed to be that they were the only students in the class. Their instructor, who introduced himself as Matt, was tall and tan, with short, sun-bleached hair, clearly having spent the summer playing on the water. He greeted them warmly and proceeded to give them a detailed demonstration of how the windsurfer worked, using a sailboard that had been set up on the edge of the water on some kind of swiveling mount. They each took a turn standing on the board, turning it to the “T” position so that the mast was at a ninety degree angle to the board, and slowing pulling the sail up with the up-haul rope until they could grab the mast, hold it upright, and get their hands on the boom. Kurt thought he might be content just watching Blaine, as this exercise showed off his back and bicep muscles beautifully, but when he took his turn he realized he was eager to get into the water and do it for real.

The wind was picking up as they finished with their lesson and Blaine had a concerned look on his face. Lagoon Pond was a mostly enclosed body of water just off of Vineyard Haven Harbor, and Blaine had explained to Kurt that it was a good place for them to learn because it was going to be calm and shallow (and therefore it would be easy to hop back on the board when they fell off). But now the wind was rippling the surface of the water, and it definitely didn’t feel calm. In fact, the breeze was invigorating, and Kurt was getting more and more excited. “Don’t worry,” he said, bumping his shoulder against Blaine’s. “We can do this.”

Matt heard Kurt and chimed in. “You guys will be fine. And I’ll help you out if you get into trouble.” Blaine asked Matt a few more questions about where to put his feet when trying to turn the board, but Kurt was more focused on getting to his sailboard and starting to actually sail. They had both been given boards with relatively small sails, since as beginners they didn’t want to be overpowered. Kurt’s board had a bright green sail, and Blaine’s was red, which Kurt thought was amusing given that Blaine was wearing his dark red swim trunks. One of the other instructors had promised to take pictures of them while they were sailing, and Kurt looked forward to sending the picture to his dad. Or making it his Facebook cover page. Nothing wrong with shaking up people’s expectations once in a while. He wondered if they could sail next to each other, get them both in the picture…

Kurt was startled out of his thoughts about a potential photo shoot when Matt clapped him on the back. “Ready to go?” Matt showed him how to get on to the board in the water, gave him a push, and then did the same for Blaine. They floated out a little bit, and Matt got on a board too, directing him as he pulled up the mast and then started sailing. It was working! Kurt felt a rush of excitement as the wind filled the sail and the board surged forward. After a while he was able to shift his feet to the appropriate position, and spared a quick glance around to see that Blaine was up and sailing too, not too far from him. The lagoon was large enough that he could just go for a while, although he knew eventually he would have to turn around. Matt swooped up next to him, and Kurt assured him that he was doing fine, slowing the board and demonstrating a wobbly turn. He zipped back towards the dock, panicking for a moment when he saw another windsurfer approaching, and then boom – he was in the water. It was easy enough to haul himself back up on to the board, however, and after a few shaky minutes of shuffling his feet around and trying to figure out which direction to try to point in, the sail was up again and he was racing back towards the other end of the inlet.

It seemed like only a few minutes before Matt approached him again, giving him some more pointers and then heading back towards the dock. The lesson was over, but they had the use of the sailboards for another hour. Kurt looked around, spotting Blaine with his sail in the water, and tried to maneuver his board towards him. “Hey handsome,” Kurt yelled. “Want to race?”

Blaine pulled his sail up and grabbed the boom, shooting Kurt a broad grin over his shoulder. “Last one to the other end has to make dinner.” 

Kurt won, although if they were giving points for form, Blaine would have beaten him for sure. Blaine continued to maintain the correct stance Matt had showed them, while Kurt was just trying to go as fast as possible. There were a few times that he nearly lost control of the board as it sped through the choppy waves, but it felt amazing. They took a break for a few minutes when they reached their goal, stretching their arm and back muscles, and then Kurt took off again with a wave and a shout. The lagoon actually curved off around the point they had marked for their race, and Kurt wanted to see where it went. He was struggling a bit with the sail now, realizing that the wind was stronger than when they had begun. His arms were started to burn, and it was harder to turn the board in the direction he wanted it to go. After a few times of trying to aim back towards the dock and getting knocked down, Kurt started to get a little worried. Something about the direction of the wind and the corner of the lagoon he found himself in was making it difficult to head back to the dock, and the increasingly choppy waves weren’t helping either. No matter what direction he thought he was pointing in, he didn’t seem to be making any progress back to the sports shop.

Looking around, Kurt realized that he was getting closer and closer to the swampy shore. This wasn’t good. He gave up on the sail and let it down as gently as he could on to the water, then tried to paddle the board with his hands, but it didn’t work particularly well, especially with the sail dragging along next to him. Soon the tip of his sail was sinking down, framed by the tall grass that stuck up through the water. He sat back on the board and sighed. He was trapped. Matt would come rescue him soon, but that wasn’t exactly the triumphant end that he had envisioned for his windsurfing adventure.

Kurt perked up when he saw Blaine approaching, hoping that maybe he would know how to get him out of this mess. Blaine was the one with sailing experience, after all. But as Blaine came racing toward him, a grim look on his face, Kurt realized that Blaine was having just as much trouble as Kurt had been. 

Blaine let his sail down with a splash when he got close to Kurt, just managing to keep his balance as he knelt down on the board. “Hey,” he said, resting his hands on his thighs and breathing hard. “It’s getting really rough. We should head back.”

Kurt huffed, annoyed. “I would if I could, thank you very much.”

Blaine looked around, taking note of the tall grass and the fact that the wind was continuing to push Kurt – and now Blaine – closer into the muck by the edge of the lagoon. “Oh. Well, want to try to get turned around?”

“You’re welcome to give it a shot. But I’m going to wait for Matt.” Kurt tried to keep the whine out of his voice. This certainly wasn’t Blaine’s fault.

Blaine grimaced. “He might be a while. There were four kids flailing about on the other side of the lagoon when the wind picked up, and he went to go round them up. He thinks it’s going to start raining, too.”

As if on cue, a cold drizzle began to fall, and Kurt laughed. “Nice going, weatherman.”

“I didn’t do a rain dance or anything.” Blaine smirked. “But I could…” he wiggled his hips, making his board rock precariously.

“Maybe later.” Kurt grabbed on to his board as a particularly aggressive set of waves threatened to knock him over. “I think the top of my sail is stuck in the grass. Unfortunately it isn’t making this thing any more stable.”

“No, it’s probably making it worse, actually. If the board can’t turn the way the wind wants it to...” Blaine reached for his up-haul rope and carefully got to his feet. “I probably have a better chance of getting out of here, at least if I go soon. Want to jump on and come with me?”

Kurt shook his head. “No, I don’t think that will work.” Sitting on Blaine’s board would just slow him down, or make it even harder to control the thing. “You go, if you can, and tell Matt to hurry up before I dissolve.” Kurt tossed his head in an effort to get his bangs out of his eyes, but it wasn’t working. Rain was not his favorite.

“Very funny.” Blaine shifted his feet, trying to get the board and sail positioned properly, but the conditions were making it challenging. Every time he got the sail partially upright, the wind pushed him a little further away from Kurt, in the opposite direction of where he needed to go. He had just managed to get the board pointed in almost the right direction, and the sail practically upright again, when a gust of wind caught the sail and blew it out of his reach, whipping the up-haul out of his hands. Instead of yet another frustrating but safe fall backwards, however, Blaine lost his footing and fell almost straight down, landing against the board with a loud smack and sliding into the water.

“Blaine?” Kurt’s stomach clenched as he saw Blaine’s head go under, but within a moment he had come back up, a hand scrabbling for purchase on the sailboard. “Blaine, are you okay?” He saw Blaine try to hoist himself out of the water, but he slid back in, and he still hadn’t answered Kurt. “Blaine?” Kurt was shouting now, but still not getting any response. It looked like Blaine was resting his head on the board, but he had stopped moving. Kurt couldn’t see his face, and Blaine was floating further away every second.

Enough of this, Kurt thought, his heart pounding. He slid off his board, ignoring the slimy feel of the tall grass against his legs, and swam awkwardly towards Blaine. Between the rain and the whitecaps he felt like he was underwater even when he wasn’t, and he struggled to keep his eyes on his fiancé. Luckily they really weren’t very far apart, and soon he was there.

Kurt reached out for the sailboard and Blaine at the same time, wrapping one arm over the board and the other around Blaine’s waist, tugging him up against him. Blaine instantly clung back, his body warm and familiar despite the fact that they were shoulder deep in cold water. “Hey,” Kurt said softly, his face right up next to Blaine’s, “it’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Kurt,” Blaine breathed out, blinking his eyes open, looking bedraggled with his hair plastered against his head. “How’d you get here?”

“I swam, silly.” Kurt held him close as the waves rocked them, his hand splayed out on Blaine’s back. Blaine seemed content to just lay his head on Kurt’s shoulder, uncharacteristically quiet, especially given the circumstances. Generally speaking, being immersed in cold water and surrounded by slimy beach grass was not a romantic situation.

Kurt sucked in a deep breath, the nervous feeling in his stomach intensifying. “Blaine, honey? Tell me what’s wrong.”

Blaine didn’t respond immediately, and Kurt nudged him with his head. “Blaine? Are you okay? Talk to me.”

Blaine lifted his head and shook it a little, then looked at Kurt, his eyes focusing slowly on him as he frowned. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He took a deep breath. “It’s nothing, I just fell hard, I guess. Got the wind knocked out of me.”

“Did you hit your head?”

“I don’t think so.” A bigger wave struck them, jostling Kurt up against Blaine, and Blaine winced as he was pressed up against the scratchy surface of the board.

“All right, you need to get out of the water.” Kurt really wasn’t sure what to do, but taking away the immediate possibility of Blaine passing out and drowning seemed to be a good first step. “Try to get up, okay? I’ll help you.”

Blaine turned obediently towards the board, placing both hands on it. Kurt got a hand under Blaine’s bent knee and shoved, and Blaine dragged himself up on to the board, pushing himself until he was seated sideways, hands clutching the edge of the board. Kurt followed, hoping he wouldn’t knock Blaine back down as he hoisted himself up. He made it, and straddled the board with Blaine in front of him. Kurt pushed Blaine’s hair out of his face, his curls flattened against his head from the water and the rain. “Where does it hurt?”

Blaine waved vaguely at his body, and Kurt saw the angry red marks on his right shoulder and down near his hip. 

“Ouch,” Kurt said, scooting closer to Blaine and pulling him against his chest, both of them wet and miserable. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt and pressed his face into his neck. “Not exactly what we planned for this afternoon, huh,” he commented, rubbing his hand over Blaine’s back. Blaine shivered, and Kurt wondered which of them was colder – Blaine with his skin exposed to the rain, or Kurt with his waterlogged shirt. At least if Blaine had kept his shirt on he might not have gotten scraped up when he fell.

After a few minutes Blaine took a deep breath and sat up, wiping his face. The storm seemed to be passing, and the rain had slowed to a slightly less dramatic drizzle. He looked around, then sighed back against Kurt’s shoulder. “Why hasn’t someone come to rescue us?”

“Don’t know. Like you said before, Matt’s probably busy.”

“We’ll be stuck here forever.”

Kurt laughed, pressing a kiss to Blaine’s soggy hair. “I think that’s probably overstating it.”

“Do you want to try to swim to shore?”

Kurt shook his head. “No way. That grass is super icky, and the shore doesn’t seem very inviting over there. We can’t swim all the way across the lagoon. Matt will come sooner or later.”

Blaine ran a hand into the water, checking out the grass. “It is pretty slimy.” A weird look flashed over his face and he pulled his hand up, then his legs, crossing them underneath himself.

“Hey, Kurt? Take your feet out of the water.”

“Why? It’s easier to balance this way.” And I’d rather not have you fall in and have to drag you out again, Kurt thought wryly.

“Just do it, okay?”

Wondering what was going on, Kurt complied, pulling his knees up against his chest. “Want to tell me why?”

Blaine rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, his bicep flexing attractively. Kurt shook his head and tried to focus, despite his body’s growing realization that his fiancé was half naked and dripping wet next to him. “Did you ever see the movie JAWS?”

“Of course. But it’s fiction, Blaine.” Kurt reached up to stroke Blaine’s face, rubbing a thumb over his cheek. He wondered if it would be so bad to have a little make out session right here, while they waited for someone to come find them. Blaine didn’t seem to be hurt, except for a few scrapes. But Blaine apparently wanted to keep talking about movies.

“Well, it’s not complete fiction. They filmed it here, you know, on Martha’s Vineyard. The town they called Amity in the movie was based on Edgartown.”

Kurt shivered, and this time it wasn’t because of the rain. “But it’s not as if they came here to film because they wanted to catch the sharks on camera. The shark in the movie wasn’t real. It was mechanical, the first of its kind. There were three of them, actually, named Bruce, after Spielberg’s lawyer. It made movie history.” Blaine didn’t say anything, and Kurt poked his knee to get his attention. “Blaine? There aren’t real sharks here, right?” Suddenly he was a lot less interested in sexy times. Being eaten by a shark definitely wasn’t in his plan for the afternoon.

“No, of course not. At least, not this close to shore, not here in this little spot. Probably.”

“Oh my god, Blaine, you’re going to kill me. You’re really saying there could be sharks right here, in this little inlet lagoon thing, right here under our feet?”

“No…. No. Almost definitely not.” Blaine smirked. “But I guess Artie did convince you to watch that Spielberg documentary, didn’t he?”

“Not the point, Blaine.” Kurt rocked his shoulder against Blaine’s, softening his words. “If there aren’t sharks here, why the sudden panic?”

“I don’t know. I guess the beach grass just felt really weird against my hand, like it was alive or something, and I got freaked out.” Blaine grimaced apologetically. “Better safe than sorry?”

Before Kurt could come up with an appropriate punishment for the nightmares Blaine had just induced, they heard the rumble of an engine. A small dinghy was coming towards them through the waves, Matt giving them an overly cheerful wave hello. 

“It’s about time,” Kurt muttered, waving back at the boat. 

Matt yelled out that Kurt should get back on his board and he would tow them back one at a time.

“Can’t do that,” Kurt shouted back, straining to make himself heard. “Blaine fell. I’m staying with him.” Blaine seemed fine, but Kurt wasn’t taking any chances. Plus, sharks. There had to be safety in numbers, right? At least if one of them got a foot bitten off the other could try to stop the bleeding.

“It’s okay, Kurt, I’m feeling fine now,” Blaine began, but Kurt just shushed him, planting his arm firmly around Blaine’s waist.

“Don’t waste your breath arguing.” Kurt gave him a squeeze, trying to avoid the worst of his scrapes. “You’re not going to win this one.”

Matt agreed to let them stay together, and tossed them a line to tie around the base of the mast. He pulled the windsurfer close and did something to release the sail, taking it into the boat with him. “I’m sorry you guys have been stuck out here for so long. Blaine, are you okay? We’ve got a first aid kit back at the shop.”

“I’m fine, really,” Blaine insisted. Kurt could tell he was embarrassed, and he rested his head on Blaine’s shoulder, wishing they were just done with this mess already.

The ride back across the lagoon seemed to take forever, and by the time they climbed out on to the dock on unsteady legs, Kurt was exhausted. From the looks of it, Blaine was feeling the same way. Of course the rain had now passed, and the sun was shining brightly down on them, making Kurt feel a little bad for his grumpy mood. 

Matt continued to apologize, giving them vouchers for a free rental – fat chance, Kurt thought – and offering Blaine a choice of band-aids and first-aid spray, which Blaine declined. Kurt knew they had better supplies back at the house, and he’d take a closer look at Blaine’s injuries when they returned. He didn’t think any of them were particularly bad, but it didn’t hurt to be careful. Finally they were back at their car, pulling their cold and wrinkled feet out of their water shoes, toweling off, and gratefully putting on dry shirts. “Home?” Blaine asked, as Kurt took the keys from Blaine and pushed him towards the passenger seat.

“Home,” Kurt agreed. “Hot shower, then dinner?”

“Definitely. Although I vote for dinner first, then shower. I’m starving.”

Kurt realized he was, too. It seemed like weeks since their lunch at Breadstix’s island cousin. “Would I be a terrible person if I suggested we stop at the Dairy Queen on the way back? I’m too tired to cook, and I’m too impatient for a real restaurant.” Kurt sent out a silent apology to his father for all the times he had made fun of him for wanting junk food for dinner.

Blaine laughed and nodded. “I honestly can’t believe there’s a Dairy Queen on the island, but since there is, it sounds perfect.”

Later, after eating too many hot dogs (one hot dog was too many, as far as Kurt was concerned, but he really was too tired to care) and giant cones of soft serve coated in chocolate, Blaine pressed a sticky kiss to Kurt’s cheek. “Thank you for looking out for me,” he said softly, his eyes shining at Kurt.

“Always.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for this chapter: chocolate

Kurt was curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee, trying to focus on his summer reading while the contractor worked in the other room. It had dawned on him just before they left for the island that the summer was mostly over, and he hadn’t made a dent in the list of plays he was supposed to read for his junior seminar, so he didn’t mind having some down time to get it done. When he and Blaine had finally turned their attention to the construction checklist, it turned out that nearly everything was perfect – except that apparently the vanity in the downstairs bathroom was supposed to be replaced, and it hadn’t been. The contractor had assured Kurt on the phone yesterday that he could come in and do it himself in just an hour or two, and Kurt hoped that would actually turn out to be the case, as they had plans for the rest of the day. 

Kurt’s stomach grumbled, and he quickly sent Blaine a text, reminding him to pick up something easy for lunch. Blaine had gone into town to get a present for his mom – it was her birthday soon, and he thought she would like a little island-themed silver charm to add to her collection. Kurt chuckled to himself, wondering if Blaine would give in and buy that pair of shorts with the little seahorses embroidered on them he had been admiring a few days ago. He really was the cutest. 

Kurt sighed, stretching out on the couch, his bare toes pressing into the soft pillow at his feet. Their time on the island had been wonderful for both of them, he thought. A much needed break from their routine, and time to just be together without the pressures of everyday life. A vacation, he thought, laughing at himself, the very definition of a vacation. No wonder people liked these things. 

The past year in New York had been great, too, but also ridiculously stressful, and scary. Daydreaming about living with your one true love was apparently a lot different than actually doing it, as it turned out. When Blaine had moved out of the loft, Kurt had spent a week or so pretending that he was completely fine with it, while Blaine gave him side-eyed looks of concern. Finally, after Rachel pointed out that if he didn’t talk to Blaine about what was bothering him, giving themselves space wasn’t going to accomplish its purpose, he let it spill out. He confessed to Blaine that just as he had said when they first discussed it, he worried that living apart was going backwards. He missed Blaine being around all the time, his constant support and gentle touches, his arms wrapped around him at night. He worried that Blaine would grow used to being without him, that maybe he would like it better than being on top of each other. He worried, more than anything, that living with Sam’s non-judgmental goofiness would just be so much easier than dealing with Kurt’s moods that Blaine would decide to make the change permanent, and he’d never get him back again. 

The way Blaine’s caramel eyes went wide when Kurt told him about his fears, the way he immediately wrapped him in a tight hug and babbled reassurances, eased Kurt’s heart. That spring Kurt worked on trying to tell Blaine sooner, rather than later, when something was bothering him, and he knew Blaine was doing the same, too. Although he knew it was important, it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. That type of openness didn’t come easy to Kurt, even with Blaine, but he knew it was the only way to move forward. Kurt hoped it would get easier over time, that he would somehow know which concerns had to be voiced, and which could be passed by without letting them fester. It made his stomach ache, sometimes, but he knew it was worth it, and so on he went. 

The true, unexpected joy of it was that it seemed to be working. The day before, just out of a shower where he had washed ridiculous amounts of sand out of his hair, Kurt had overheard Blaine on the phone with Sam, talking about their vacation. Despite knowing full well that he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, he had stopped as he approached the porch where Blaine was perched on the steps outside, chatting away with a heartwarming lightness in his voice. “It’s really been great,” he had heard Blaine say. “We’re having so much fun. It’s been ages since I’ve been here, and I just love it…. Yeah, it’s a little sad, thinking about my grandma, but it’s still really awesome…. I think it’s been good for Kurt, too.” Kurt had frozen when he heard his name, but still hadn’t said a word. “He’s always so stressed out, he needed this as much as I did.” A pause, then Blaine was laughing. “Yes, believe it or not – he’s eating three meals a day, plus ice cream!”

*****

Later that afternoon they loaded up the car and headed out to Aquinnah on the west end of the island. They stopped along the way at Chilmark Chocolates, another place Blaine had loved visiting as a kid. Kurt had his doubts as they pulled up at the little house in the middle of nowhere, as the most noticeable feature of the place seemed to be the line of people waiting to get in which trailed across the porch and down into the parking lot. But the wait was worth it, as the chocolates were delicious and had amusing Vineyard-inspired names (Kurt particularly liked the white chocolate “sandbars,” creamy goodness speckled with toffee, and the dark chocolate “sunsets” with crystalized ginger). The shop was known for employing disabled workers and its practice of sponsoring a different nonprofit organization each month, and the chocolates themselves were fantastic. He and Blaine had fun selecting chocolates to bring home to Blaine’s parents and to send to Burt and Carole, although he cringed at the thought of giving his dad such an unhealthy gift. Kurt made sure to include some dark chocolate coated orange peel in Burt’s box, just to provide some balance. They packed all the chocolates into the cooler in their trunk which also held their picnic dinner, and headed off to the far end of the island.

Finally arriving at Aquinnah, they parked in the line of cars along the side of the road. Blaine got out of the car and poked around, fishing the sunscreen out of one bag and adding it to his backpack. “I thought we’d go for a walk on the beach, have our picnic down there, and then come back up to watch the sunset,” he said, looking at Kurt for approval.

“Sounds good to me,” Kurt agreed. He held out his hand to Blaine, who took it with a smile. 

They wound their way down to the water, slipping and sliding as they walked down the steep path, and finally stopping when they made it to admire the breathtaking multi-colored clay cliffs of Gay Head Point. “It’s ridiculously beautiful,” Kurt said, looking at where yet another lighthouse marked the edge of the island.

“Mmm, yes,” Blaine whispered, giving Kurt a pointed look and a lingering kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, I was talking about the cliffs.” Kurt leaned into Blaine, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Change your mind about the beach?”

They had decided against going to the “clothing optional” Moshup beach - despite Santana’s occasional jibes, neither of them actually had any interest in being naked in front of strangers. And the thought of putting sunscreen everywhere – Kurt shuddered.

“No, I’m still going to keep you to myself, thanks,” Blaine said, pressing a quick kiss to Kurt’s lips. 

They left their shoes in a pile by the path, and walked along the water, Blaine producing a bag with the chocolate hazelnut truffles he had gone crazy over at the shop that afternoon. “Come on, have another one,” he said prettily, holding the chocolate up to Kurt’s lips. “You know you want one.”

Kurt shook his head and pushed Blaine’s hand away. “I think you know _you_ want another one.” 

Blaine smiled, popping the candy into his mouth. “Fine. But I saw you eyeing those toffees. You’ll probably break them out tonight when you think I’m not looking.” 

Kurt grinned back, but there was something bothering him about this whole chocolate thing, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Suddenly he remembered Blaine’s conversation with Sam.

“Do you think I'm too skinny?” Kurt asked, vaguely waving his hands at his chest.

“What?” Blaine asked. “What do you mean?”

Kurt shrugged. “I don’t know, you just seem awfully excited about feeding me.”

Blaine stopped walking, and his arms fell to his sides. “This is just having a little chocolate on vacation, Kurt, not a lifestyle choice.” He took a deep breath, and Kurt could tell he was trying not to get upset. “It’s not like we’re eating fettucine and cream sauce every night. What are you accusing me of?”

“That’s not what I meant at all,” Kurt said quickly, stepping in close to Blaine and putting his hands on his shoulders. “That’s not what I meant.” He rubbed his hands up and down Blaine’s arms, trying to make him relax. “You’re not doing anything wrong, we’ve both been doing a good job at making balanced meals and eating healthy.”

“Then what is it?” Blaine’s voice was tight.

“I overheard you on the phone with Sam yesterday.” Kurt caught Blaine’s eyes, but this news didn’t seem to bother him overmuch. “I know I shouldn’t have been listening, I’m sorry.” Blaine nodded, waiting for him to get to the point. “You said something about me eating three meals a day.”

“Oh,” Blaine exhaled, realization dawning, and a more serious look came over his face. Blaine took Kurt’s hand and pulled him away from the water, sitting them down where the sand was dry at the base of the cliffs. 

“Why do I feel like I’m about to get a lecture?”

Blaine smiled softly. “Not a lecture. It’s just that sometimes when you get stressed, you stop eating regular meals. Or at least, it seems like you get really focused on what you’ll eat and what you won’t eat, and you don’t eat very much. I get worried.” Blaine turned, his knee pressing against Kurt’s thigh where they sat together on the ground. “Over the past few weeks, you’ve been so relaxed, even about food. You eat breakfast, you have a snack when you feel like it, you have ice cream for fun instead of just when you’re upset…”

Kurt squirmed a little, wanting to look away but knowing he had to work through the discomfort. Blaine was right. “I didn’t think you noticed.”

“I’m working on being less oblivious,” Blaine said seriously, but the crinkle of his eyes behind his sunglasses betrayed him.

Kurt laughed softly, and slid closer to Blaine, putting an arm around him and leaning against his shoulder. He took a deep breath, looking out over the sparkling water, and tried to explain it. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to figure it out before, but he realized he had never really talked about it with Blaine. It wasn’t the easiest thing to talk about. “I know I can get a little fixated on my diet. At school everyone is so perfect. Sometimes I still feel like a skinny little high school kid in comparison.”

Blaine was rubbing his thumb over Kurt’s wrist, and he pulled his hand up to his chest. “I know you were self-conscious about your body in high school,” he said carefully, “but I thought you were really happy with how you looked lately.” 

It was true that Kurt had matured physically, and he knew, objectively, that people thought he looked good – very good, attractive, even. But it didn’t always seem to make a difference in how he felt inside. Which was usually pretty good, just – not always. There were days when nothing seemed to feel right. Kurt just shrugged. “I’ll never look like some of those guys, all muscle-y and big. No matter what I do.”

“Kurt,” Blaine breathed out. “You don’t need to look like that. You’re lean, and toned, and beautiful. You’re stunning, just the way you are.”

"You like how Sam looks," Kurt protested.

"That's not fair, you like how Sam looks too." Blaine huffed out a laugh. “All of New York City likes how Sam looks.” Blaine took off his sunglasses and nudged Kurt’s nose with his own until a smile curved at the edge of his mouth. "Besides, he spends hours every day on his body. That's not what either of us want for our lives, right?”

Kurt nodded, his throat tight.

"And just in case it needs to be said," Blaine pulled Kurt close, "it's your body that turns me on, that makes it so I can't think of anything else when I look at you." Blaine ran his hands appreciatively down Kurt's sides, resting them on his narrow hips, and gazed up at Kurt through his long lashes.

Kurt met Blaine’s eyes, overwhelmed by the love he always saw there. "I know."

Blaine bit his lip, apparently sensing that Kurt still wasn’t convinced. "You know I'm going to love you no matter what, right? Whether your biceps are bulging or your abs are sculpted, or you have a pudgy tummy like me?”

"You don't have a pudgy tummy," Kurt muttered. While it was true that Blaine never did entirely get rid of the freshman fifteen he had acquired last year through cronuts and self-doubt, he certainly wouldn’t call anything on his fiancé’s beautiful body _pudgy._

"That's exactly it, don't you see? If you love me despite this," Blaine poked the soft spot under his ribs, "you have to believe you're not just your body too, right?" 

Kurt sighed. “Easier said than done, I guess.”

Blaine flopped back on to the sand, pulling Kurt on to his chest. “Come here and cuddle me.”

“You’re getting sand in your hair,” Kurt pointed out, lying down against Blaine anyway, fitting himself against his compact body with a grateful sigh.

“It won’t be the first time.” Blaine pressed an awkward kiss to the top of Kurt’s head. “I think we need a nap.”

“What about our picnic?”

“Somehow I don’t think now is the right time to pull out the fried claims and French fries…” Kurt could feel Blaine’s stomach tensing under his arm as he tried not to laugh. “I think I threw some carrot sticks in there too, though, so…”

“You ass,” Kurt said softly, rubbing his face against Blaine’s soft t-shirt. “You know I love fried clams.”

“I do. I love you, too.”

“Mmm.” Kurt closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the breeze as it swept over them, and the sound of the waves as they crashed against the shore.

Blaine shifted, curling up more tightly against Kurt, and started singing softly. “How much do I love you, I’ll tell you no lie. How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?”

Kurt joined in, the words of the old jazz standard reminding him of Sunday mornings back at the loft, Blaine crooning as he woke him up with sweet words, kisses, and promises of lemon scented pancakes. “And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry? How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “How Deep Is The Ocean” was written by Irving Berlin in 1932. Hear Frank Sinatra singing it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WICzHNSiG6o) or go to You Tube for a variety of other versions.
> 
> Chilmark Chocolates is a real place - with fabulous chocolates. Crazy weird hours, though- if you ever find yourself on Martha's Vineyard and want to go, make sure to call first.
> 
> The last chapter is coming - please leave a comment and let me know if you have enjoyed the ride.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their last few days on the island - a final goodbye, and an important conversation. Prompt for this chapter: trust.

The air was cool on Kurt’s skin as he walked down the narrow street, his footsteps echoing in the early morning quiet. The fragrance of the rose bushes which graced so many of the weathered houses surrounded him, and he took deep breaths, trying to secure the calming scent in his memory. The majestic houses by the water with their graceful widow’s walks seemed almost familiar now, after walking around Edgartown so many times in the past two weeks. Not for the first time he was grateful that he didn’t have to endure a separation like the ones thrust upon the families of whalers in the 1800’s, who were away from home for years at a time. He and Blaine had it hard enough being apart for a span of months, even with modern technology to help them out.

Soon enough the cobblestones turned to sand, and he approached the entrance to the harbor beach. The morning was still cool but Kurt could already feel the August sun begin to heat the air, and the clear blue sky promised another beautiful day. Kurt paused for a moment as he reached the dunes, soon spotting Blaine’s dark head down by the water. He knew why Blaine was down here, early on their last full day on the island, and he steeled himself to be strong for him, to be what he needed. 

Kurt toed off his shoes and walked down the beach, enjoying the feel of the cold sand on his feet. He walked carefully over to Blaine, pausing until he looked up, blinking as he realized Kurt was there. "I saw your note. You could have woken me up," Kurt said fondly. He sat down next to Blaine, who was curled up with his arms around his knees, facing out over the waves. Kurt put his arm around Blaine’s shoulders and tugged him close, nosing against the scruff on his unshaven skin. Kurt could count on one hand the number of times Blaine had left the house without shaving, but if ever there was a day that it was okay to do so, it was today.

Blaine smiled at Kurt, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked like you were having a good dream," Blaine said, butting his head gently against Kurt’s cheek.

"No dream is better than waking up with you," Kurt replied, making Blaine laugh softly. "What? It's early, my game is still sleeping."

"I love you," Blaine said plainly, nuzzling into Kurt's neck.

"I love you too." Kurt looked around at the beach, practically deserted at this early hour. There were only a few people out walking in the silence, not even a yapping dog to break the spell. The classic white lighthouse loomed some distance behind them, marking the entrance to the harbor for the few boats heading out to get an early start on their day’s journey.

Behind Blaine on the sand, perched on a towel, was a small container which Kurt knew held his grandmother's ashes. Kurt took a deep breath, deciding there was no avoiding the purpose of this excursion. He stroked his hand along Blaine’s arm and said softly, "So, what's the plan?"

Blaine blinked at Kurt, and he could see in his eyes his reluctance to focus on the situation at hand, but then Blaine followed his gaze to the container and steeled himself. "I thought I'd go out in the water a bit and do it. There's not much wind, so it should be okay." They both grimaced at the thought of the ashes blowing the wrong way, something Blaine's mother had awkwardly warned them about when Blaine told her about their intentions. Kurt fully supported Blaine’s desire to scatter his grandmother’s ashes in one of her favorite locations, but Kurt did not relish the idea of washing Nora Anderson's remains out of Blaine's curls.

Kurt waited for Blaine to say more, but apparently that was as far as he had gotten. "Can I come with you?" Kurt asked. He thought that Blaine wanted him there, but sometimes he couldn't read his fiancé clearly, even when his big honey eyes were staring right at him. He was trying to remember to just ask, when he wasn't sure, instead of making assumptions. Not surprisingly, it seemed to help.

"You don't have a bathing suit," Blaine pointed out, gesturing to Kurt's hastily put together outfit. He hadn’t stopped to think very much when he saw the message Blaine left on his pillow this morning, and had just pulled on jeans and the Jaws T-shirt Blaine had bought him after their windsurfing adventure. 

Kurt shrugged and pulled the shirt off over his head, shivering a little as the chilly breeze reached his skin. "I'm good." His jeans would dry. If Blaine wanted him with him, he’d be there.

Blaine smiled softly and pulled his shirt off too, dropping it on top of Kurt’s where it laid on the sand. They stood and gingerly entered the water, Blaine reaching back for Kurt’s hand as he hesitated. “Don’t worry, there aren’t any big waves here.”

“I know, silly. It’s just a tad cooler than I expected.” Kurt tried not to think about how cold it would be walking back to the house in soaking wet jeans, but there was nothing to be done about it at this point.

“You don’t have to-“

“It’s fine.” Kurt surged forward and wrapped an arm around Blaine’s waist. “We can warm each other up later.” He pressed a quick kiss to Blaine’s cheek and caught his quick smile, and they trudged deeper into the water.

Once they were chest deep Blaine stopped, looking back at the lighthouse on the shore. The breeze was making his curls flutter, and Kurt moved so that he could see his face. “She loved that lighthouse,” Blaine said softly. “She used to talk about how it must have felt, after being away for so long, to finally catch sight of that light and let it guide you home.”

 _Let it guide you home,_ Kurt thought. Perhaps Nora was home now, symbolically, at least.

Blaine was shivering, pressed up against him, his head on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to know what to do next. “Do you want to say anything else?” Kurt murmured. 

Blaine looked at Kurt, his eyes wide. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Can I?”

Blaine nodded, and tucked himself closer against Kurt.

Kurt took a deep breath, and tried to put into words the feelings that had been swirling around in his head since Nora’s death. Kurt didn’t really believe that Nora was listening to him, but he knew Blaine was, and that was what mattered. He pulled Blaine tighter against him, his chilly fingers gripping his hipbone, and began. “I’m so glad I had the chance to know your grandmother, Blaine. She was so full of joy and life, it's hard to believe she’s gone. I am so grateful for everything she did for you, because you mean the world to me, and she is a part of what made you the amazing person you are today. She loved you all in, she adored you, as you well deserve. She trusted you to follow your heart, both when it came to your passion for music, and your stubborn desire to pursue a particularly fashionable young man you met in high school, even when things got tough. She will stay in my heart forever, because she will always be in yours.”

Blaine turned to Kurt, blinking tears out of his eyes, and gave him a soft kiss. “Thank you. That was perfect.” Blaine pulled back, removing his arm from around Kurt and focusing on the lid of the container. He unscrewed it, and with a quick look back at Kurt for reassurance, gently poured the contents into the water as a wave pushed past, both of them moving away from the spot as soon as the task was complete. 

Kurt took Blaine’s hand and they made their way back up on the beach, Kurt’s soaked pants heavy and cold against his legs. Kurt grabbed the towel Blaine had left on the sand and wrapped it around Blaine’s back, rubbing him dry, and then handed him his shirt while he did the same to himself. They walked in silence back to the house, Blaine’s hand slowly warming in Kurt’s. Later, after a hot shower and a lazy nap, Blaine woke Kurt with fluttery kisses and a glowing smile. 

“Something on your mind?” Kurt asked.

Blaine propped his head on his hand and ran a finger down Kurt’s chest, warm from his stay in their blanket nest. “Just you. And how lucky I am.”

Kurt searched Blaine’s eyes, seeing only light and happiness, for what seemed like the first time in weeks. “You’re not the only one.”

\-----

The next morning they loaded up the car and checked their list one last time. The house was closed up, the curtains pulled closed, all the doors and windows were locked, and it was time to go. The renovations were done, and the house was perfect, except for the fact that it was going to be empty for who knew how long.

Kurt was going to miss this place, with its crooked floors and handpieced quilts, and memories around every corner. He couldn’t help but imagine future trips here, more lazy days in bed with the curtains blowing rose scented breezes across them, more days on the beach under the blazing sun or shifting fog. More nights staring at the stars from the back garden. Maybe even a little someone sleeping in the old crib he had spied folded up in the laundry room, or a curly head poking over the edge of the bunk beds. New photographs featuring adorable toddlers with two handsome daddies. It could happen.

After a quick stop to take a few more pictures along the beach, and then another one for coffee and apple turnovers at a bakery in Vineyard Haven, it was finally their turn to board the ferry. Kurt drove the car carefully up the ramp, Blaine apparently unconcerned about this maneuver as he fiddled with his phone, setting up the GPS to direct them back to the house in Connecticut. After a brief debate and the realization that if they in fact had any sunscreen left, it was buried deep in their piles of luggage, they went up on deck, finding a place in the shade as they leaned against the railing and watched the coast of the island recede into the distance. 

The breeze was cool, and Kurt was glad for the warmth of the sweatshirt Blaine had pulled out of the car for him. While he usually wasn’t one for souvenir clothing, he had a feeling that the light blue sweatshirt with “Vineyard” proudly emblazoned across the chest was bound to become one of his favorite items to snuggle up in. Either that, or he’d wear Blaine’s olive green one. No one but them had to know about Kurt’s occasional forays away from the world of couture. At least he had resisted buying anything with little animals embroidered on it, although he had purchased a bowtie adorned with tiny whales that he was saving for Blaine’s birthday – or maybe the first day of classes – he wasn’t always very good at delayed gratification, and everyone needed a pick-me-up for back to school.

Blaine sighed and rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder, the wind brushing his curls against Kurt’s neck. “It was a good trip.”

“It really was.” Kurt agreed, wrapping his arm around Blaine’s waist and giving him a squeeze. In fact, it was pretty much the best vacation Kurt had ever had. “And you have yet to congratulate me for not driving the car into the water.”

Blaine laughed softly, his breath puffing out against Kurt’s skin. “I knew you could do it. I trust you.”

Kurt hesitated, thinking about those words. “I know it’s not exactly what you meant, but… you do, don’t you?”

Blaine lifted his head, his caramel eyes focused with concern on Kurt. “Trust you? Of course.” He turned in Kurt’s arm and tilted his head, puzzled. “Is something wrong?”

Kurt closed his eyes, feeling oddly unbalanced, and it had nothing to do with the sway of the ferryboat. He concentrated on the feel of Blaine’s warm skin through his polo shirt, grounding him. “I’m just not always sure that you should.”

“Kurt,” Blaine said, a tremble in his voice, “what are you talking about?”

Kurt opened his eyes and grabbed Blaine’s hand where it rested on the railing. “No, no, nothing like that.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be cryptic. It’s just… the past few weeks were like a dream, in some ways. A really good dream. It was so perfect. _We_ can be so perfect, sometimes.”

“But not always,” Blaine said softly, rubbing his thumb over Kurt’s knuckles.

“But not always,” Kurt repeated. “I just worry about going to back to reality. School is going to start soon, and work, and auditions, and everything else. We’ll be juggling schedules, arguing about cleaning the bathroom, forgetting to buy more milk, never having enough time for each other. We’ve both screwed up before-“

“You mean I’ve screwed up,” Blaine interrupted.

“No, we both have – whatever – but what if I screw up this time? What happens then?”

Blaine put a hand on Kurt’s chin, turning his head so they were looking at each other again. “Hopefully we can make our way back.” Blaine took Kurt’s hand and pressed it against his chest, holding it there with both of his until Kurt smiled, remembering that day on the stage at McKinley. “I love you so much, Kurt.” He glanced out at the water, the waves larger now, rolling with the wind. “My love for you isn’t bounded, it isn’t finite. It’s deep, and wide, and there’s room for… for whatever happens. We’ll figure it out, as long as we keep wanting to.”

“I’ll always want to be with you,” Kurt said softly, his throat tight. “Even when you can’t stand me, even when I need a little space, I still want to be with you. I still love you.”

“I know.” Blaine pulled Kurt into a tight hug, rubbing his back until his breathing steadied. Kurt let himself believe Blaine, the power of his love and his optimism filling him with hope. Maybe the peace they had found over the past few weeks would be enough to carry them through the hard times ahead. Maybe the good would continue to outweigh the bad. Because what he had said to Blaine, all of it, was true – he loved this man like he could never love anyone else, and when things were working between them, nothing could top it. They were perfect together, with occasional interludes of not-so-perfect. Maybe that was enough. Maybe that was how two people were meant to love, passionately and imperfectly.

Kurt finally unwound himself from Blaine, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. “So now you see I was right,” he said, forcing himself to speak lightly.

“About what?” 

“Vacations are for everything. Even me freaking out a little.”

Blaine smiled, his eyes shining. “As long as we can keep outdoor shower sex in the equation, I’m on board.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Note: I am 95% unspoiled for Season 6, and am hoping to keep it that way – but I think this piece might still fit, whatever happens.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought of this story – your comments are greatly appreciated.


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